Sharing your truth on TikTok is one of the best ways these days to get justice, such as the L.A. renter who managed to reclaim 50% of her overpaid rent, or at least vent about injustice, like the Buffalo Wild Wings employee fired after a customer dined and dashed.
Sometimes, however, the truth is not as clear-cut as it may appear at first. Typically, companies and corporations do not come out well on TikTok, as pretty much every user on the app has a horror story about this fast food restaurant or that one or some nightmarish travel experience. In this case, though, Hubbard Inn Club might just be the secret hero of the story. Even though it was initially portrayed as the villain.
It all kicked off when Chicago resident Julia Reel took to TikTok to publicly shame Hubbard Inn for the violent and aggressive treatment she allegedly received at one of its establishments. Reel claimed that she and her friend were roughly escorted from the premises and physically assaulted in a way that was not acceptable. “So they are grabbing us immediately,” Reel stated in her original video. ‘They don’t even give us a chance to walk out on our own.”
“I’m immediately grabbed by this man,” Reel continued. “He’s pushing me, he’s manhandling me. And what is going on? What is the issue here? Why are you guys kicking us out, why are you screaming at us?” She then went into specifics about how the bouncer supposedly handled ejecting her from the inn. “Why are you manhandling me and grabbing me, using my bag to pull me out? I’m just pushed down. He sends me flying down the staircase.”
Naturally, the entirety of TikTok was on Reel’s side… until Hubbard Inn did something that companies rarely do in cases like this. It actually responded with a TikTok of its own… and Hubbard bought receipts. The official response initially blamed Reel’s recount of the “alleged incident” for causing “damages to the business, staff, and reputation” of the company, before showcasing actual surveillance footage which appears to outright contradict Reel’s story.
The surveillance footage shows a woman Hubbard Inn identifies as Reel’s roommate being “calmly walked out” of the establishment, as well as “profusely apologizing for her behavior.” What’s more, the footage also shows Reel herself being treated in the exact same way: simply being escorted down a corridor and through a door without any physical altercation displayed.
As for the staircase incident, Hubbard has video for that two, which depicts both women getting escorted down some steps as they leave the hotel. “[Reel] was politely escorted off the premises, ensuring a safe exit.” Hubbard shared. “Ms. Reel was not thrown from two sets of stairs.”
As you would expect from this shocking twist in the tale, much of TikTok has instantly turned against Reel. “This Saturday I’ll make sure that me and my group of friends stop by the Hubbard Inn and support the business,” wrote one commenter. Another got political with their takedown of the TikToker: “It’s people like this Julia chick that makes me want TikTok to get banned in the U.S.“
On the other hand, there remain some who still think something fishy is going on here. Reel has provided evidence of an ER visit on the night of the incident and there is a discrepancy of three minutes between these two snippets of surveillance footage, which some find curious. Then there’s the fact that one of the young women in the second clip is wearing a lighter shirt while in the first both appearing to be wearing black.
What’s more, Reel has wiped her account of all other videos, and now the only one available to view makes clear that she has retained lawfirm Corboy & Demetrio in order to “investigate the facts that led to her injuries at Hubbard Inn.” So Reel is not backing down and maintains that what she says happened, happened. In other words, this TikTok remake of Rashomon has only just gotten started.
Published: Mar 18, 2024 11:51 am