“I’m not transphobic, I see that as a negative term.” Then, he had an idea. “I felt like I was getting unfairly labeled,” he told me recently.

He was repeatedly told, upon responding no, that his answer was transphobic. On multiple occasions, he was asked if he would date a trans woman. Occasionally, he would also do live-streams, during which some participants would ask about his background-he’s a straight, cisgender Christian of mixed Asian and white ancestry-and press him on controversial matters of the day. He had built up a small following poking gentle fun at “Karen” behavior. B ack in February, Kyle Royce, a 20-year-old in British Columbia, Canada, created a video that proved far more controversial and influential than he had imagined it would be when he uploaded it to TikTok.