19-year-old with 1 million TikTok followers defends Elias Rodriguez, calls him ‘resistance fighter' in rant video

Hindustan Times

24-05-2025

A teenage social media influencer with a massive online following sparked outrage after he publicly expressed support for the man who is accused of fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, reported the New York Post.
Guy Christensen, a 19-year-old college freshman from Pennsylvania who goes by the handle 'YourFavoriteGuy,' uploaded a video to TikTok on Thursday saying, 'I want to urge you first to support Elias' actions,' referring to Elias Rodriguez, the 31-year-old suspect in Wednesday's fatal shooting of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26.
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Christensen, often seen wearing a keffiyeh in his videos, dismissed criticism in an interview with the outlet, saying, 'I think the only people who are interpreting that as such are the people'' who are using the slayings of "those two Zionist officials … as a pretence to silence critics of Israel.'
The video, which had garnered over 632,000 views before being removed, described Lischinsky as a 'war criminal.' Christensen made no distinction for Milgrim, saying, 'And the same was true for the woman.'
Speaking to the outlet by phone, Christensen added, 'You will not hear me sympathise with war criminals.'
He also rejected the idea that Rodriguez was a terrorist, stating, 'He is a resistance fighter.'
In the now-deleted original video, Christensen said, 'I do not condemn the elimination of those two Zionist officials who worked at the Israeli Embassy last night … and here's why. Israel has a live-streamed a genocide to the entire world the last two years. You cannot expect to do such a thing in this world without the people standing up to fight to stop you in any way they can, to resist against you.'
Christensen continued to defend his stance, telling the outlet, 'I think it's very shameful that the media would rather cover Elias Rodriguez over the death of hundreds of Palestinians yesterday.'
Although TikTok removed the video, Christensen revealed that he had successfully appealed its removal twice. 'It was taken down a third time and that there would be no appeal,' he said.
Christensen currently has 321,000 followers on TikTok, 419,000 on Instagram, and 88,500 on X.
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TikTok responded to the ordeal, stating that the content was removed for 'violating our Community Guidelines.' According to the outlet, the spokesperson said, 'Our Community Guidelines prohibit anyone from promoting violent or hateful actors, and we do not allow conspiracy theories that are violent or hateful, such as denying well-documented violent events.'
Christensen's video was among several troubling social media posts that emerged following the embassy attack. One such post came from Skigh Johnson, a Canadian woman in her 20s, who uploaded a TikTok video of herself smiling while writing, 'To the people who [gun emoji] and unalived 2 Israelis in Washington DC then screamed free Palestine at their [skull emoji] bodies. I love you and I will help make sure you're taken care of in jail,' ending with kiss and party emojis. Johnson has over 13,000 followers on TikTok, and her clip had been viewed hundreds of times by Friday evening.
Public officials and experts condemned the disturbing content and called for stricter control over online hate speech.
'TikTok by allowing this content — and just as insidiously utilising an algorithm that exposes people to this hateful speech even when they are not searching for it — is exacerbating antisemitism and violence,' said New York City Councilwoman Julie Menin. 'At what point does TikTok bear responsibility for spreading hate speech and inciting a violent call to action?'
David Zimmerman, a senior research fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, pointed out that while social media may not initiate radicalisation, it accelerates the process. 'Ideally, social media sites are picking up on this type of activity, but I don't know if the companies have enough resources to put toward it — that's the scary part,' he said. 'It's going to fall on communities, it's going to fall on families, it's going to fall on education.'
State Assemblywoman Nily Rozic echoed similar concerns, saying, 'It's very clear that social media platforms, unwittingly or not, facilitate antisemitism, so they're implicated in the violence that emanates from it. We'll have to figure out a public policy answer to that, a solution to that, but it is very clear that these social media platforms are targets and hotbeds for violent extremist antisemitism, antisemitic content at an alarming rate. There's very little difference between people who murder Jews and those who cheer them on or swipe through their content.'
Representative Dan Goldman of New York warned, 'What has been allowed to fester in the dark corners of the Internet is now bursting into the open with deadly consequences. It is incumbent on all of us — elected officials, tech executives, and everyday Americans — to confront and combat the antisemitism that motivated this attacker wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.'