Doja Cat stan accounts across social media are going dark, the result of an ongoing battle between the Grammy-nominated, rapper-pop star and her fanbase. The hot war has already brought up thorny issues about what exactly celebrities owe their biggest fans. But another major player has been embroiled in the controversy: Doja’s long-rumored boyfriend J. Cyrus, who has been accused of manipulating and emotionally abusing members of his Twitch team and community.
While Cyrus (real name Jeffrey Cyrus), doesn’t have Doja’s name recognition, the creator has spent a long time on the fringes of fame. The Louisiana native first grew popular on the now-defunct short-form video app Vine, reaching 1 million followers with his heavy rotation of comedy characters, freestyle raps, and high-profile collabs with Viners like Gabbie Hanna and Manon Matthews. During the 2016 Shorty Awards, Cyrus was a finalist for Best Vine Comedian. After the app shuttered in 2017, Cyrus successfully pivoted his content to more streamer-focused content. In the past six years, he’s gained a small but consistent following on Twitch, where he streams games like Grand Theft Auto using his own accents and characters. On TikTok, Cyrus has over 700,000 followers, where he still posts short-form comedy sketches, this time with a much longer three-minute time limit.
Cyrus was first linked to Doja Cat, whose real name is Amala Dlamini, in November 2022 after the Daily Mail published an article saying the two were spotted on a date. While neither have publicly confirmed their relationship, a photographer snapped several shots of them kissing while on a yacht during Doja’s vacation to Mexico. (Reps for Cyrus and Doja Cat did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.)
In 2019, his short introduction to Twitch came with accusations of manipulation and emotional abuse from his female moderators. (Moderators make sure the chat meets, as Twitch notes, “behavior and content standards” set by the service.) Cyrus’ moderators accused the creator of taking advantage of his position of power by allegedly manipulating and lying to several moderators — allegations that didn’t garner mainstream attention because of Cyrus’s low follower count on the site. Fans also alleged that Cyrus would flirt and message young female fans that were of age, but significantly younger than him. The allegations caused major confusion in the streaming community but pushed big-name talents like Jenna Marbles, Julie Solimita, and Chris Melberger to distance themselves from Cyrus. On December 20, 2020, Cyrus issued a now-deleted apology, acknowledging that he had caused many of his moderators harm, but was working on himself.
“There is no excuse nor justification for my actions. I was careless. I was greedy. I was ignorant. I was disrespectful. And I was completely in the wrong. In a position of power and trust, I gave into the temptations and attention of those who looked up to me,” Cyrus wrote. “These women are special. They are strong. And they are worth so much more than me and my ignorance. And I failed to realize that when it mattered.”
Cyrus’ past allegations have also been a major sticking point for Doja’s fans. When one account commented that people were unstanning Doja — or stopping their support — the rapper hit back hard. “I DON’T GIVE A F*CK WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MY PERSONAL LIFE I NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL GIVE A F*CK WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME OR MY PERSONAL LIFE GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE MISERABLE HOES HAHA!” That statement, combined with the resurfacing of Cyrus’ past alleged misconduct, caused many Doja fans to feel betrayed by her decision to keep associating with Cyrus — deactivating or shutting down their fan accounts on multiple social media platforms.
As for Cyrus, much of the attention on the comedian has come from the nebulous nature of the allegations. While Cyrus had a small following on Twitch when female moderators called him out, he wasn’t nearly large enough to attract mainstream attention. All of the allegations he addressed were about inappropriate behavior but not illegal — exacerbated by the fact that many accusers initially refused to name Cyrus. What’s happening now seems less like a petty grab for revenge and more like a community with the potential to hold Cyrus accountable on a mainstream stage.
While Cyrus took a break from social media after posting his apology, he returned less than two years later. His stream was never demonetized and he continues to share his comedy content on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch — taking an approach he first perfected at the start of his 2020 Twitch controversy: just keep posting.