Who is the comedian accused of being 'cruel' to audience?
Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of suicide or suicidal ideation. Please take care while reading, and note the helpful resources at the end of this story.
A woman who attended an Ashley Gavin stand-up show in Indianapolis alleged on social media that the comedian told her to “kill herself” during the set.
Olivia Neely posted a video on TikTok and wrote a post on Reddit detailing what she claims to have experienced at the show. The video, which Neely posted on June 21, has accumulated 3.4 million views.
Who is Ashley Gavin?
Gavin is a 36-year-old stand-up comedian based in New York City and describes herself as being “best known for her viral crowd work videos on TikTok.” She also hosts a comedy podcast called We’re Having Gay Sex and another podcast, Chosen Family, with two other creators.
The “About” section of her website reads, “tl;dr: ppl love it when ashley yells” and links out to a TikTok from 2020 that she captioned “Lesbian comedian destroys a str8 man.”
What did Ashley Gavin allegedly say to audience member Olivia Neely?
Neely described herself as a former fan of Gavin and said she paid for VIP meet-and-greet tickets to the sold-out show. According to Neely, the comedian encouraged the audience to be loud and interactive throughout her set.
At one point Gavin, during a story, shared that she’d had an abortion. Neely claimed that the audience cheered and that she joined in, when Gavin “looked me dead in the eyes in front of 500? people [and said] that I am the most annoying fan who has ever been to one of her shows.”
Neely then alleged that Gavin told her to kill herself.
“I awkwardly shouted ‘ive already tried,’ reflecting on my past attempt and struggle with suicidal thoughts,” Neely claimed in the Reddit post. “She then tells me I didnt try hard enough and continues to tell me to kill myself over and over and over again. I started having a pit in my stomach and I was in pure shock. Ive never had someone I idolized or anyone in general be so cruel.”
TikTok creator Justin Burnett posted about Neely’s alleged interaction with Gavin a few days after Neely shared her story. Burnett told In The Know that he was anonymously sent a TikTok DM from someone who claimed to have been at the same show who recorded the entire set, including the interaction.
Burnett tried uploading the audio recording to TikTok and Instagram, but it’s since been deleted for copyright issues on the platforms. In The Know has since acquired the audio.
“Two years ago, I had an abortion,” Gavin says in the recording. A lot of people in the audience laugh and cheer.
Gavin then says, “No, kill yourself.” It’s not clear from the audio who she is specifically talking to.
Someone, presumed to be Neely, shouts in response, “I tried!” and Gavin yells, “Shut the f*** up.”
“That was the most virtue-signaling piece of dog s*** I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Gavin continues. “That was f***ing annoying as f***. In a room full of lesbians and you just screamed for someone having an abortion? That is the most — in a comedy club? Everyone here is pro-abortion, kill yourself.”
Another Reddit user claimed they were at the show as well and wrote in a post that they didn’t think Neely did anything to warrant Gavin’s reaction and called the experience “confusing.”
“Shut the f*** up! I don’t care! Try harder to kill yourself,” Gavin shouts. Neely said she left the show early after the interaction.
Gavin has not responded to the backlash since Neely posted her video. Gavin did not respond to In The Know’s request for comment as of publishing.
Neely, however, has gotten a lot of support from social media users who came across her TikTok and Reddit post.
“I had tunnel vision and was in complete shock and horror,” Neely continued in her post. “The person I fan girled, looked up to and wanted to meet just told me to kill myself.”
Another Redditor posted a screenshot of a tweet from the same show where a fan captioned a meet-and-greet photo with “@AshGavs is pro suicide.” Gavin replied, “I am!!!!”
“Your feelings are valid and you did the right thing,” a commenter replied to Neely on TikTok.
“There is no scenario where that is acceptable & there is no such thing as being ‘overly sensitive,'” another said. “You felt how you felt and that’s real and valid.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. You can also connect with a Crisis Text Line counselor at no charge by texting the word “HOME” to 741741. Visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to learn more about the warning signs of suicidal ideation and check out the Jed Foundation’s online Mental Health Resource Center.
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Source: In The Know
