December 20, 2022
2022 Rewind: Watch: Too Adorable? Tik-Tok's 'Perfect' Gay Couple
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
EDGE is looking back at 2022 and we're resharing some of our favorite stories of the year.
Gay couple Nick Champa, 26, and Pierre Amaury Crespeau (a.k.a. Pierre Boo), 31, were struggling actors wondering if love would find them. Then they found each other – and also TikTok. Now the adorable couple has reached social media stardom, NBC News reported.
The two met at an audition, and they came away with the roles of a lifetime – partners. Their whirlwind romance led to living together after only a month – quite the reversal for Crespeau, who told NBC News that before he met Champa he had "lost the dream of a fairy-tale relationship" after a string of failed relationships.
Champa put it this way: "When we met and kind of realized we had the same drive and passion, we were just like, 'Let's do this together.'"
What they ended up doing together was taking social media by storm. "In late 2018, they started to share little glimpses of their life – along with goofy pranks, challenges, and viral dances – via Instagram posts and videos, and their connection attracted a large following of teens and moms," NBC said. That following had grown to almost 2 million, the article noted.
When TikTok came along, they took to that platform as well, and fared even better, garnering some 23 million followers between them. "Some of their most popular videos include their travel vlogs, dance challenges and pranks," NBC noted.
The financial rewards have been substantial – a state of affairs they marvel at. "When it really started to build some sort of career, we were like, 'Did our relationship just become our career?'" Crespeau told NBC News.
Perhaps it had, but the duo have moved into other enterprises as well, including launching their own merchandise line.
But even the fun, rosy picture they present isn't everyone's idea of perfection. Or, better said, for some it might be too perfect; the article related how Bob the Drag Queen reposted one of their videos and declared, "I have to block these two."
Crespeau responded to that notion on YouTube, where he pushed back on the notion that he and Champa were a flawlessly happy couple. However, he added, "at the end of the day, we're together, and we have moments that are happy."
More than "moments," actually. "That's genuinely what we are most of the time," Champa explained to NBC. But, Champa added, the couple feel it's important to show gay coupled happiness.
"When I was growing up, it constantly was stories being told of suffering and pain for gay people," he related, adding that the messages he was given insisted "that we had to go through this negative journey through life."
It wasn't a message Champa felt to be necessary.
"I was like, 'I'm sick of that. That's not helpful for me. I don't want to put that out there.'"
What's your take? Are the two "too perfect" – or just right? Have a look at these posts from Instagram.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
