Earlier this week, a woman named Courtney Ebeling (@courtneyebeling) posted a TikTok showing a montage of clips of her best friend and boyfriend, who she thinks “fight like siblings.” It shows the two play-fighting and goofing off while Ebeling films and laughs, and it has more than 28 million views on TikTok.
A good number of those views are from people who think something is definitely going on between the bestie and boyfriend based on body language. TikTok remembers Couch Guy and its offshoots, so users are already primed to be suspicious when videos like this pop up.
@courtneyebeling Never a dull moment at the house
♬ Pretty Boy Swag – Soulja Boy
A staggering number of comments on the TikTok say “It’s a canon event,” a reference to a Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse meme, meaning that whatever is going on in the vid can’t be interfered with. “Someone tag me in the breakup vid,” said one commenter.
After the video hit Twitter, it picked up more than 69 million views and more opinions, as people analyzed every angle. “third-wheeling your boyfriend and bff is crazy” said the caption on the tweet from @laeswrld, which has more than 26,000 quote tweets.
“oh they fuckin fuckin,” said another commenter.
Ebeling tells the Daily Dot that she didn’t anticipate such a strong reaction to the video.
“I posted that because I like that my boyfriend and friends can get along so well,” Ebeling says. “I think the internet’s response is extremely immature, seeing that they have had a 20-second insight [into] our relationship and friendships with other people and are making these assumptions.”
She says Branson (the boyfriend) and Sam (the friend) have also gotten negative comments on their social media, as well as death threats “from people who have no idea what they’re talking about.”
In a follow-up TikTok, Ebeling showed her and Branson together, with the caption, “Today I learned the internet is more insecure about ur relationship than you are.” But people are still invested; in the comments of her most recent TikTok—a GRWM date-night video—the top ones are about waiting for potential drama, or asking who all is going on the date.
“Someone update me when the inevitable happens,” said one commenter, to which Ebeling responded, “Don’t hold ur breath.”
