In 2007, Nikki Blonsky was on the road to stardom. She had just starred alongside Zac Efron in an adaptation of Hairspray—a hit musical that includes an important message about racism. But everything changed in 2008, as it emerged that she and her family were accused of being involved in a racially charged brawl at a Turks and Caicos airport.
Soon after, Blonsky faded into obscurity for years to come. But now she has a starring role in Peacock’s new movie Bosco, TikTokers are making sure that her misdeeds of the past are not forgotten.
In a now-viral TikTok, Steffanie, the creator behind TikTok channel The Nosy Bystander (@chiefnosybystander), said Nikki Blonsky is currently trending not for the new movie but for her alleged involvement in an incident at the airport. Steffanie then showed viewers a clip from The Tyra Banks Show, where America’s Next Top Model contestant Bianca Golden went into the details of the alleged incident.
@chiefnosybystander #greenscreenvideo #greenscreen #nikkiblonsky is #trending and not for a good reason. People are talking about her 2008 incident at the airport in #turksandcaicos where her family was arrested for a räćïal fueled brawl #antm #tyrashow #hairsprayactress #pastevents ♬ original sound – 👀Nosy👀
“[Nikki’s father] punched my mom,” she told Banks. “He knocked her out. He hit my mom with such force she stumbled back, and when she stumbled back, the whole [Blonsky] family got up and attacked my mom. [Nikki] takes her foot and kicks my mom in her vagina, and that’s when my mom fell out completely. When Nikki kicked my mom, I went and grabbed her arm, and she grabbed my earring. Her mom sat on her to get her off of me ’cause her mom saw what was happening, and that was that.”
Following the incident, Golden’s mother was reportedly airlifted to an intensive care unit.
Steffanie continued, “After the story came out, Nikki posted this on her Instagram and … admitted that the fight happened, but she said, ‘Oh, we didn’t say those racist remarks,’ … But she immediately had to delete this because a bunch of people who were at the airport like, ‘No, we—we heard you,’ … and from there, her entire career was over, apparently except for right now.”
While the Daily Dot was able to corroborate the existence of this Instagram post, it could not independently verify the reason for its deletion.
“So the reason why she’s trending is because people don’t want to forget what she had did to Bianca Golden’s family because I know time heals all wounds, but time does not heal racism, baby,” Steffanie concluded.
Steffanie didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via email.
In the comments section, viewers didn’t hold back how they felt about Blonsky. “I remember this very well,” one commenter wrote. “Nikki Blonsky and her family are a piece of trash.”
“This is my first time hearing about this and I used to watch Hairspray faithfully,” another said.
“I remember this!” a third commenter added. “It makes watching Hairspray weird considering what her family stood for.”
A representative for Blonsky didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via email.
