Did Viral TikTok Star Bella Poarch Serve in the U.S. Navy?
Updated Feb. 18 2021, 1:13 p.m. ET
TikTok is helping throngs of attractive young people pulling off mirthless 20-second dance routines to catchy tunes become famous on the internet. And while that may seem innocuous enough, there are still some big implications for what these young and pretty personalities do, something that Bella Poarch learned the hard way when she accidentally inked herself up with a "racist" tattoo. And now folks want to know if she served in the U.S. Navy.
Yes, Bella Poarch was indeed in the United States Navy.
She enlisted in 2017 and served for three years where she was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She was born in the Philippines but moved to the United States when she was 13 years old with her family. She has managed to accrue a massive social media following, with nearly 6.5 million Instagram followers, 36.1 million TikTok devotees, 145,000 YouTube subscribers (despite not having any content) and over 108,000 Twitter followers.
Which isn't bad when you consider she was born in 2001 and as of this writing isn't even old enough to legally buy beer yet. The most popular piece of content she uploaded was to TikTok — an "M to the B" lip sync clip where she makes a variety of slight head movements and is clearly enjoying herself. Just take a look below to see what I'm talking about.
While the video has received a lot of hate in the comments section with tons of people saying they have no idea what Bella did to get so many millions of likes aside from just moving her head, there were several other people who absolutely adored the video.
It seems like the reason why so many people liked it is because she's genuinely "vibing" the song and isn't trying hard to entertain people. It's something that's difficult to put your finger on as to why her videos are so addictive, but many folks are pointing out that it probably has a lot to do with a specific cuteness factor.
She almost seems like a Disney animated character that's come to life with her cartoonish facial expressions. Whatever the reason for her notoriety, it doesn't seem like many people can emulate it because her followings are growing at an insane pace.
People are trying to conflate Bella Poarch's "racist" tattoo with her military service.
One of her videos showcased a Rising Sun tattoo on her body, but there are tons of Korean fans who find that tattoo offensive. The "Rising Sun" flag symbol is an image that hearkens back to Japan's occupation of Korea, so the offense is understandable. After learning of the backstory behind the tattoo, Bella immediately had the tat covered up and apologized on social media for not doing her research.
An all-out race war between Koreans and Filipinos erupted on social media in the aftermath of the tattoo controversy, but things seem to have boiled down by now and everyone seems to be going back to enjoying Bella's particular brand of ahegao-inspired face dances and video routines, complete with tie-dye sweatpants outfits.
