(Content warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault and ableism.)
In a Home Depot parking lot, 31-year-old Austin McBroom filmed himself whimpering in a cowboy hat. In dozens of Snapchat stories from Sunday, the former patriarch of the 18 million subscribers Ace Family channel starts stuck in the rain, until a nice stranger offers to drive him to a massage parlor. There, things become disturbing.
His masseuse, who happens to be a little person, ends up performing a bizarre and seemingly nonconsensual massage on McBroom. Though clearly staged (the masseuse was featured in other fictional videos on McBroom’s Snapchat last week), the interaction is unsettling.
In response, McBroom runs off with his clothes in his hand back to the RV he’s currently living in. But then, the masseuse follows him back to the RV, and the pair make up. They decide to go shopping at the supermarket.
This is just one strange day in the content of Austin McBroom, who has been confusing online onlookers with his content this month after his divorce from his wife of seven years, Catherine.
On Jan. 12, Catherine announced on her Instagram that the pair have “mutually agreed to a divorce and will part amicably.” A few days after the announcement on Jan. 16, Austin McBroom started his Snapchat saga in a sincere moment, stating that the marriage “hadn’t been easy for us the past few years” and that he’s looking for a home as close to his kids and Catherine as possible.
Posting over 40 Snapchat stories almost every day since his divorce Snapchat launch, Austin McBroom has consistently created absurd scenarios that have vlogified his life. It started small with getting parking tickets and complaining about a fever. But eventually, the videos moved into the absurd — with a song about his divorce featuring rapper DDG, doing yoga with OnlyFans creator ShawtyBae, and videos of him applying to work as a manager at CVS. ….
