Carla Garson has hazy memories of her final TikTok Live session with her partner, David Lee Perez, which occurred on December 26, 2022. The couple gained modest fame that summer through their TikTok account, Operation Hangover, where they would take shots on the platform’s Live function in exchange for cash. They would sit in their basement, keeping track of their drinks on a whiteboard for their audience.
As their streams grew in popularity, their drinking became heavier by December 2022, especially during the holiday season when more people were available to watch and pay them. Garson mentioned that they charged between $5 and $15 per shot, but their earnings varied depending on the night’s crowd. On a good night, they could make around $500, while on a bad night, it could be as low as $50.
To mitigate the risks of excessive drinking during their streams, Garson and Perez filled some of their alcohol bottles with non-alcoholic beverages, but they always had real booze on hand. Garson admitted that they were often actually intoxicated during their livestreams. Perez would sometimes consume straight liquor during the Lives, especially when he was stressed. Garson would try to warn him about the dangers, but she hoped they would soon transition their content to cooking and music.
The pressure to drink was particularly intense during their last livestream. They had a larger crowd than usual and were paid to take multiple shots at once. Garson ended up consuming 11 shots, while Perez had 14 shots and two additional beers. Garson vividly remembers Perez chugging an entire Four Loko, a high-alcohol malt beverage, purchased for him by a TikTok creator who claimed to be sponsored by the brand. Garson alleges that the same creator convinced Perez to shotgun two Four Lokos in a separate livestream the previous night.
Garson’s memory becomes blurry thereafter as she was blackout drunk. She recalls Perez vomiting in the bathroom, being unresponsive, and realizing he wasn’t breathing. She called 911 and attempted CPR while the livestream continued to broadcast to an audience of 280 people. Viewers left messages expressing their concern and praying for Perez’s recovery, while others made insensitive comments. The livestream ended abruptly, and Perez was pronounced dead at the scene despite Garson’s efforts and the paramedics’ intervention.
This tragic event has deeply impacted Garson, and she is determined to raise awareness about the dangers of alcohol-related TikToks and the brands that creators promote. While partnerships and sponsorships are common among alcohol-based TikTokers, Garson believes it promotes alcoholism and intends to bring attention to the issue. TikTok acknowledged that such content would be a violation of their policies. HuffPost reached out to several alcohol brands that were promoted by TikTokers engaging in drinking Lives, and only two independent brands responded.
Garson and Perez were part of a community of influencers on TikTok, where drinking on Live streams for cash is a prevalent and dangerous trend. The allure of quick earnings and potential brand collaborations incentivize these creators to engage in risky behavior and build their personal brands around excessive drinking. This trend sheds light on the dark side of social media, where extreme content gains the most attention, even at the cost of personal well-being.
Despite the abundance of alcohol-themed creators on TikTok, with hashtags like #alcohol and #cocktail amassing over 24 billion views, the platform needs to address the potential harm caused by this content.
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