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The Allegations Looming Over Brian Jordan Alvarez’s Breakout

When Brian Jordan Alvarez made it big with English Teacher, he brought his friends along with him, just like they’d always dreamed. Except one.

For the better part of the past decade, Alvarez has been making things on the internet — first YouTube sketches, followed by a beloved web series called The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo and, most recently, a menagerie of characters on TikTok, the most famous of which, TJ Mack, has gone viral multiple times over. Queer media outlets heralded its arrival; Tyler Oakley said it was “officially my new favorite thing.” They wrapped the five-episode season in late March 2016, and the show was programmed as part of the New Online Work section at the Tribeca Film Festival for April. Lately, he’s been doing a daily dance trend with captions urging viewers to stream English Teacher, which just saw another surge of critical adoration, landing on the New York Times ’ “Best of 2024” list and earning a slew of Indie Spirit Award nominations.

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