Did Underage TikTok Star Tyler Downs Hook up With British Diver Tom Daley?

Tyler Downs is just 16 years old, but he’s already proven that he’s pretty good at two things. The first is diving, which has allowed him to contend for a spot on Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The other is TikTok, where he’s managed to draw more than 250,000 followers to his channel. 

Tyler’s following on TikTok is not just people who are huge fans of Olympic diving. While that may explain part of his notoriety, the diver has also proven that he has a good handle on how to use the platform. He posts videos of himself dancing and diving, and they‘ve drawn a massive amount of interest to his page. If diving doesn’t work out, Tyler could definitely have a career as an influencer. 

Although Tyler is usually in the news for his diving accomplishments, the young social media star was recently made the center of a controversy. Perez Hilton claimed that he received a video of Tyler making out with Tom Daley, a British diver who’s currently 25. Perez tweeted about the video and said that, while he wouldn’t be sharing it himself, he wouldn’t be surprised if it leaked. 

In addition to the fact that Perez’s claim suggests that Tom is getting intimate with a minor, the claims caused additional controversy because Tom is already married to screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. Dustin is 45, two decades older than Tom, and the two have been married since 2017. They also have a child together. 

In a follow-up message to his initial tweet announcing that he had the video, Perez said that he was working with his legal team to get the necessary people involved. “I am talking to my lawyer about what next steps should be with this video,” Perez wrote in a tweet. “And making sure I do my duty to get it into the hands of authorities.”

Some of Perez’s followers urged the gossip blogger to be cautious, though, especially if no one had proved that the video was real. “If that video hasn’t been authenticated, even this tweet could subject you to a defamation action. Tread lightly,” one of his followers tweeted in response. Perez wrote that he was pretty sure that the video was the real deal. 

“I don't make up things. And I definitely would not claim something like this, that could get me SO EASILY SUED if it were not true. If I didn't see the VIDEO,” Perez tweeted. At the moment, Perez is the only one who seems to have seen the video. If it gets leaked or becomes widely available, others may be able to verify whether it’s real. For now, though, it seems that most of the public will simply have to take the gossip blogger’s word for it.