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Former San Jose State University volleyball star Brooke Slusser has been banned from TikTok after posting several videos discussing her alleged experience sharing a team and apartment with a transgender teammate.
“I’m pretty mad about it,” Slusser told Pakinomist Digital.
Slusser’s account is gone from the platform, and she provided screenshots to Pakinomist Digital showing the notice of her ban and a failed appeal. The notices cite violations of “community guidelines.”
“We ask all users to follow our community guidelines to help us maintain a safe, respectful TikTok community,” the statement read.
Brooke Slusser was banned from TikTok after posting videos discussing the SJSU volleyball scandal (Courtesy of Brooke Slusser)
Brooke Slusser was banned from TikTok (Courtesy of Brooke Slusser)
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Pakinomist Digital has reached out to TikTok for comment.
TikTok previously banned activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics, with which Slusser is signed, after it aired an ad video advocating for the protection of women’s and girls’ sports from biologically male trans athletes.
TikTok was previously owned by Chinese company ByteDance before they finalized a $14 billion deal to move its US operations to a new entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, to avoid a federal ban. However, ByteDance still owns approximately 20% of the company.
Slusser has been the target of a viral left-wing hate campaign on TikTok and X over the past week after she began speaking out about her alleged experience at SJSU. Her content began to emerge after the university and the California State University (CSU) system filed a lawsuit against the federal government to challenge a Department of Education investigation that found SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of a transgender volleyball player.
On X, the left’s attack on Slusser came in response to an interview with Pakinomist Digital in which she reflected on living in the same apartment with a transgender teammate, Blaire Fleming.
“You find yourself just enjoying yourself in a bed with a man you have no idea… me [was] Unknowingly sharing a bed at the time with a man,” Slusser said in the interview, also claiming that SJSU volleyball coach Todd Kress encouraged her to live in the same apartment as the trans teammate as another group of players also looked for a final tenant.
The fallout from the interview has prompted high-profile activists, lawmakers and even an actor to speak out and side with or against Slusser.
A coalition of “save women’s sports” activists rushed to Slusser’s defense, with OutKick host Riley Gaines, XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova and former ESPN star Sage Steele leading the charge to defend Strans detractors from pro-Slussers.
“I just want to say that people who don’t know my life or my trauma have no place to say how good or bad my time at SJSU was. I hope they never have to understand going through something as horrible as that,” Slusser previously told Pakinomist Digital about the backlash.
TRUMP ADMIN RESPONDS AFTER SJSU SUES TO CHALLENGE TITLE IX INVESTIGATION INTO TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL
After the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced in late January that an investigation into the university’s handling of a trans athlete and other players concluded that the school violated Title IX, SJSU and the California State University (CSU) system declined to address the breach.
Instead, SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson announced Friday that the school and the CSU system are suing the federal government to challenge the investigation.
“Because we believe OCR’s findings are not based on fact or the law, SJSU and CSU today filed a lawsuit against the federal government to challenge these findings and prevent the federal government from taking punitive action against the university, including the potential withholding of critical federal funding,” Teniente-Matson said Friday.
“This is not a step we take lightly. However, we have a responsibility to defend the integrity of our institution and the rule of law, while ensuring that every member of our community is treated fairly and in accordance with the law. Our position is simple: We followed the law and cannot be punished for doing so.”
The school is also asking OCR to retract its findings and close its investigation.
Teniente-Matson reaffirmed the university’s commitment to advocating for the LGBTQ community in the announcement.
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“Our support for the LGBTQ members of our community who have experienced threats and harm over the past several years remains unwavering. We know the attention the university has received around this issue and the investigative process that followed has been disturbing to many in our community,” the university president said.
Among the Department of Education’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a game. The department claims, “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
