"There comes a time when we need to mobilize and that time is now."
Shortly after her viral kombucha meme blew up, Brittany Broski gained notoriety on social media platforms like Youtube and particularly Tik Tok, where she now has almost five million followers. It was her personable and "relatable" sense of humor that thrust her into the mainstream media, with a teenage driven audience.
Let’s talk about Harry for a second! Why did you decide to get a Harry Styles tattoo?
Ok here’s the thing. And I mean this with every fiber of my being. Harry Styles is simply the perfect person. And I don’t mean that like, ''Oh my god I love Harry Styles.'' But like it’s like every interview you ever watch, every person who he’s ever talked to has said that he’s lovely. I’ve watched his interactions with the paparazzi, like literally everything. He’s offered his leftover food to them and he is just a genuine person. I could never meet him. I don’t want to be in the same room with him unless I’m at a concert. It’s like… I’m unworthy.
I met another girl at The Forum show who had a 'Treat People With Kindness' tattoo as well and she says the same thing that I do. 'The Treat People With Kindness' tattoo means more to me than a cross tattoo or a christian tattoo because Harry’s just a real life example to just be absolutely as kind as you can to everyone that you talk to. He’s so inspiring and in so many more ways than he needs to be.”
He really is the epitome of like a genuine, kind, beautiful soul. What’s your favorite song?
Oh I’m a Canyon Moon stan definitely.
That’s 100% my favorite song of his.
People sleep on Canyon Moon. It’s so good.
I’m also a One Direction stan obviously.
Periodt. Always will be. Forevermore.
What was it like for you working a day job and then very quickly becoming a full time content creator and being recognized everywhere you go?
It’s definitely weird. There’s two sides to it. The content creation part is one thing. It comes very easily to me because I’ve always done it. Especially growing up online, there are consumers of content and there are creators of content. I’ve always, in my little circle, kind of shit-posted videos on Snapchat. Snapchat used to be my platform. It got to this point in college where I would have friends of friends of friends add me on Snapchat just to watch my Snapchat Stories. And I would do pretty much what I would do on Tik Tok. Just voices, characters, shit. That sort of thing. Thoughts as they would pop into my head. It got up to 600 or 700 people that watched my Snapchat stories and I didn’t know who they were. So I feel like that kind of prepared me a little bit for what was to come. But as far as being recognized and stuff I’m just still not used to it. It happens in public still, like I got recognized at a protest with my mask on. And I was like… holy shit! I forget there are millions of people watching me. That just slips my mind because it’s just me in my bedroom. You don’t realize the impact you have on people and that is very humbling. I think that’s just been the weirdest thing, like I can’t go to CVS and buy pads or like adult diapers.
In terms of your childhood, do you think there were any experiences that were indicative of your career path growing up?
Oh I was definitely the class clown. There’s a lot of character development that comes with being averagely pretty. Being a little chunky and being a little overweight, you have to develop in other places to compensate, so of course. I’ve always been Miss Personality, because you really work with what you’re given. I have a really funny family which I’m very thankful for. My dad’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. I come from a family of divorce so humor is a coping mechanism.
Trauma makes you spicyyyy.
Periodt!
What was it like growing up in the south?
I kind of have an interesting upbringing because my dad was in the military so I’ve lived all across the southeastern United States. You know Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas. But I’ve also lived in South Korea - he was stationed over there for a year. Growing up in the south it was very close minded. I don’t really have anyone that’s gay or even LGBTQ+ in my family at all, but I’ve always sort of gravitated to those friendships. And I think it has to kind of do with having a boisterous personality and being so yourself. I’m attracted to people like that and I think it’s a two-way street. So the gay community has always been there for me, with open arms, and vice versa. It’s funny cause my dad doesn’t really get it haha. He’s like, ''Why do these gay men like you? It’s not like they can get anything from you!'' But that’s the beauty of it because they don’t want anything! It’s just the joy of life and it’s the joy of giving it to the gurls.
Who are some of your favorite drag queens?
Oh girl. Of all time probably Miss Alyssa. Miss Alyssa Edwards. She’s from Mesquite, Texas mama. I’ve seen Kennedy Davenport before. Bitch I was gagged. She performed in Dallas and I was like wow. You see these queens on drag race and since it’s a TV show you kind of think of it almost as if you’re a judge. But when you see it live it’s a different experience.
You can’t describe the feeling. It’s like nothing else.
You really can’t! Everyone really just has to go. That’s why it’s amazing what y’all are doing here. I’ve seen so many queens go live on Tik Tok to try to make money, because of the donation feature. They do Patreon, Go Fund Me, and all of that. It sucks because so much of the drag show experience is the audience, and that’s been taken away.
Who are your favorite comedians?
Kristen Wiig, I love a bit of Jim Gaffigan. I love Tom Segura. I respect Joe Rogan a lot. I really admire comedians who have successfully made the transition into digital comedy. With his podcast and he’s very present online. I really look up to him for that. I’m definitely very inspired by them. The more I kind of “study” comedy, as someone who wants to go into it in a traditional sense, it really just is like personality. It’s really just… are you likeable. Do people want to listen to what you have to say? Are you a natural kind of person? That’s kind of who I gravitate towards.
And you want to go into stand up ultimately, correct?
Yeah. Stand up and comedy voice acting would really be the end goal. How fun would that be?
A little Trolls?
A little Despicable Me action maybe. A little Shrek, Ice Age.
Or like The Emoji Movie?
Haha like The Emoji Movie 4. Like the sequel sequel. The Lego Movie! Kristen Wiig is amazing in The Lego Movie!
Have you done a stand up show before?
No, because as soon as we really started talking about that, like an improv workshop or an open mic, corona hit. If you think about it, I moved to Los Angeles in December, which was the holidays and a really busy month, I wasn’t in LA in January, February was Playlist Live and then Corona hit the beginning of March. I mean it sucks because there’s so much opportunity here and Hollywood’s kind of paused right now.
You’ve been using your platform in tremendous ways to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Why do you think it’s so important for celebrities to use their platform to support indigenous and marginalized groups? You’re truly setting a good example for other white creators and showing the necessary steps that we need to take to create change.
I appreciate that. I don’t think we should praise white creators too much for doing what we should be doing. There comes a time when we need to mobilize and that time is now. This is the time to use my following’s loyalty, and their listening ears. I am very dedicated to not letting this stop. So many people just let it stop. They posted their black square and they moved on, and this is so much more than that. This is not the time for performative activism. This is not the time to prove that you care. This is the time to change it. If you have a problem with what’s going on, change it. So I hope that I’m sending that message to my followers.
And there’s two sides to it. There’s the followers that already agree and they’re on board, but the other side is the followers in my DMs that are like "Can you explain to me why all cops are bad? My dad’s a police officer and he’s not racist." Oh my god I wanna help. But I don’t have the time in the day to explain this history of systemic racism to everyone in my DMs and the history of policing in America. I find myself getting frustrated because I’m reposting material for the people like that. I wish they would just read. I have highlights, I have links, I have all of that. I do understand DMing and asking the question and I respond when I can. But it’s frustrating, because people who don’t want to listen and just argue will do just that. I’ve lost a couple followers, which is unfortunate, but if you’re not willing to listen in the age of information, that’s on you. It’s definitely a very stressful time to be a creator. I’ve struggled a lot with the balance of posting lighthearted content, and not being tone deaf to what’s happening in America. For a while in early June I just was not posting. I wasn’t posting funny content, because it’s not right. I was posting educational resources, I was posting calls to action, and I was getting hate for it. "When are you gonna be funny again? Ugh I thought I could come to your page to avoid politics." It’s like, girl click off! Just click off. I really hope that I’m doing my part. Have you ever thought if we were back in the 60s, what would you have done? And that’s very much where we’re at. Sticking to the right side of history.
I’m really glad that you’re doing that. And I don’t think enough white creators are taking those steps. Now you filmed a video with Trixie Mattel, what was that like? The energy is so much and you guys are just roasting each other the whole time. It was so funny.
Oh my god and it was right off the bat too. She came out of her apartment to come get me and we were just at it. It’s weird how it happened because Sarah and I recreated the Trixie and Katya look, not expecting them to ever respond or see the tweet. And sure enough they direct messaged both of us. Katya DMed Sarah and Trixie DMed me. She like calls me the F slur haha. She’s like yes *F slur* let’s film a video together! So we started texting and she literally lives like 10 minutes from me so we just kind of came over and it was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. That video has like 5 million views! It popped off! So the banter is definitely there it’s definitely a rapport. We were gonna do like a podcast episode together and then rona hit. We were also gonna do another video where I paint him as me. The Brittany Broski Twiggy eyelash, the hair, all of that. But that’s kind of been put on pause. And her tour was also cancelled!
It got cancelled the day before I was supposed to go!
Ugh! Devastating. She goes live on Twitch and all that. I mean it’s similar but it’s not the same.
She’s just the kindest person. Whenever I go to a Trixie show she’ll go out of her way to talk to me and ask how my parents are.
Haha! That gutted old rotted bitch mama.
Yes bald!
Come on bald. Come on forehead.
I love the energy of you, Sarah, her, and then just her boyfriend David in the corner trying to keep you on track with your story.
Haha yes! We literally went to Dave & Buster’s after! It was so fucking good. We got like blitzed at Dave & Buster's.
Why do you think it’s so dire for us to support drag artists, as a community, right now?
They’ve literally had their legs cut out from under them. The way that they perform and make art and make money has been stripped from them. So I think this is fantastic what y’all are doing because it is a community, already oppressed and in need, but now even more in need. Especially as allies, the fact that you recognize the need and you want to help out in any way possible is fantastic. And y’all are so young and dedicated. Y’all are inspirations, you’re so fantastic.