TikTok, the popular social media app for making short musical videos, has popularized viral dance challenges like the 'Renegade' and has even spawned bona fide celebrities like 15-year-old influencer Charli D'Amelio. Now, 26-year-old truck driver Joshua Collins is hoping to utilize the user base to support his run for Congress.
"TikTok has been the place where my message resonates most," Collins, a self-proclaimed socialist, told Cheddar.
He's been able to amass 50,000 followers and more than one million likes with a variety of videos both about his campaign and other interests.
In campaign videos, he talks about policies he supports, complete with hashtags like "#anarchy," and "#eattherich." He supports presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders, has featured videos of himself at Sanders' rallies, and is vocally opposed to former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's candidacy.
The candidate also is a supporter of LGBTQ issues, and said for young people on TikTok, "trans issues are really popular."
Collins, who describes himself as "really far-left" politically says he uses the app to give his take on issues he believes aren't being talked about enough and has compared the Iraq war to President Trump's Iran escalation last month. He also uses the platform to support agendas like the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-All.
Hollywood writers picketing to preserve pay and job security outside major studios and streamers braced for a long fight at the outset of a strike that immediately forced late-night shows into hiatus, put other productions on pause and had the entire industry slowing its roll.
The 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike this week after negotiations with Hollywood studios that began in March failed to result in an agreement.
Filmmaker and comedian W. Kamau Bell joined Cheddar News to talk about his HBO documentary project, United Shades of America, which tackles growing up mixed-race in America.
British star Ed Sheeran is facing accusations that he plagiarized Marvin Gaye's hit song, "Let's Get It On." Cheddar News breaks down how the high-profile copyright trial came to fruition and gets expert guidance from Joe Bennett, a forensic musicologist.
The 2023 Tony Awards are scheduled for next month, and Some Like It Hot, a musical and theatrical adaptation of the 1959 film, is leading the pack with a total of 13 nominations.
