A Truly Bizarre Wendy Williams Clip Went Viral Because No One Can Believe How It Ended

Wendy Williams is certainly no stranger to clips of her show going viral, but a bewildering segment from this week slipped into the truly bizarre. The clip from Wendy is truly something you need to see to believe, as describing what actually happens pales in comparison to what transpires on the next 75 seconds of television.

The clip first circulated on Wednesday but it gained steam in earnest on Thursday, presumably because people actually watched until the end. What was just a weird, somewhat aimless comparison of Williams’ social media following with a TikTok star had a twist that even the best screenwriters and comedians would struggle to come up with for themselves.

https://twitter.com/AlexTMcNair/status/1412945070802841607

The clip begins with Williams setting up her Hot Topics segment, which apparently was about a TikTok star that goes by the name Swavy. Real name Matima Miller, the 19-year-old has more than 2.5 million followers on TikTok and a wide following on other social media platforms. In fact, Williams used an image from his Instagram profile to set up the segment.

For some reason, though, the meandering introduction was framed by Williams’ frustration that Swavy has more followers on TikTok than she does, mostly because she is not on the platform and “as far as TikTok, I don’t use that at all. I don’t know what that is and I don’t want to be involved.”

It’s, well, weird. Because for starters, Williams seems pretty unsure who the person the segment is even about is in the first place.

“I have no idea who this person is,” Williams says. “Neither does one person in this building.”

Williams asks the audience if they knew who he is. It’s a bit uncomfortable, and the cuts to a confused audience going along with the segment adds to the tension. Williams then commands people who know Swavy to cheer, and a few do. She then complains that he has more followers than she does, before a member of her crew reminds her that she has more Instagram followers than he does. Thankfully, her audience cheers the news that she’s beating him on Instagram.

It’s awkward television, for sure, but then it gets even weirder when Williams jumps right into announcing that the 19-year-old Miller was tragically shot and killed this week. It’s entirely unclear why this introduction of a person she had “no idea” existed needed to be brought up on the show, or handled that flippantly. But when the clip circulated online people were shocked by its contents and conclusion to say the least.

Basically, no one could comprehend that this was real and the news was broke that way.

https://twitter.com/IfyNwadiwe/status/1413276761316495363

While the reaction on Twitter and elsewhere boiled over, it’s unclear if the segment had reached those who knew the tragically killed young man mentioned in the video above. His family hasn’t seemed to directly address the Williams clip, as they apparently had to fight to get his TikTok page back online in the wake of his death. But they did eulogize Miller on social media.

Miller’s family has set up a GoFundMe, if you’re interested in donating.