Babe, Wake Up! The Internet Is Weaponizing Girl Code Over Influencer Boy Drama

Oops, the girliepops are trying to redefine girl code. And before you pick up your clean girl aesthetic-approved pitchforks, please, I beg, hear me out. My 30-plus years of expertise in girl code speak for themselves (yes, I came out of the womb as my sisters’ ride-or-die, just ask them). I love your boyfriend until you break up with him and then he’s dead to me too. If your former bestie did you wrong she did me wrong also, and no, I will not even consider posting that picture where you look like you just got crawled out of a swamp even if it’s the only one where my ass looks fat. As a girls’ girl with a fatal allergy to guys’ girls who are too cool to own contour, I have to say, I think TikTok is taking the wrong side of history when it comes to this Halley Kate “vs.” Sophia La Corte boy drama.

Halley Kate is a very popular influencer living in New York who you may know from being praised for being able to buy a Hamptons home from her influencer salary, or from the subsequent petty backlash that clarified said house was actually in Hampton Bays. Anyways, so here’s the tea: Halley was dating a guy named Reed Williams for nine months, according to her timeline — which means they hypothetically would have gotten together around the spring of 2023. They broke up in November as alleged by Halley, but only a month later he was photographed out with a different influencer, Sophia La Corte, in December of 2023. Why the drama?! Halley and Sophia were friends (depending on who you ask). Even though Halley is back with Reed, Sophia has now decided to spill her side of the tea since Halley previously put Sophia on blast for participating in “homey hopping”. Here’s a girl-code-checked version of the Halley and Sophia love triangle TikTok drama.

What happened with Halley and Sophia, according to Halley’s POV?

Halley explained that she “considered [Sophia] a friend” in now-deleted TikToks, as previously transcribed by Her Campus. (The publication reached out for comment and has not heard back.) Sophia had even left her bag with Halley for safekeeping, and Halley had “bought Sophia shots.” So imagine Halley’s surprise after one of the NYC Influencer Snark subreddits worked overtime to catch Halley’s freshly single ex, Reed, out with Sophia, allegedly on a date the very next night. After Halley found out Sophia had DM’d Reed and they had, in fact, gone out together, Halley texted Sophia (which Sophia agrees she ignored) and then took to TikTok to make multiple videos about the situation. Her followers quickly deduced Halley was outing Sophia as the problematic girl in question. Naturally, this influencer war was ignited to the tune of Taylor Swift’s “Karma.” To be fair, Halley also directed virtual heat at her ex at the time, accusing him of “homey hopping” with Sophia and warning followers: “Ladies let me be your lesson. Never feel sorry for a man or defend him.” But the internet isn’t mad at Reed anymore: my FYP is full of friends and followers reading Sophia to filth for being a “weirdo”, “clout-chasing”, girl-code-breaking “homewrecker” now that Halley has taken Reed back. But Sophia has still chosen to share her side of the story…

What is Sopia’s side of the Halley Kate drama?

Sophia has a similar but different story to tell. Sophia said she’s met Halley (which she mispronounced as Hailey, as fans have been quick to point out) all of “three times” throughout their work as influencers. From Sophia’s POV, they are not friends or even co-workers, but closer to acquaintances in the same field. To be fair, if you have to text someone for the first time stating who you are because you know they don’t have your number saved, I don’t think you can call yourself “friends,” which is what happened when Halley reached out to figure out if the rumors about her man were true. Sophia also wanted it to be known Halley didn’t have her purse, she had a gift bag that Sophia didn’t want anymore and was told would be donated to charity and there was no buying of shots at a free influencer event. It’s easy to split hairs here, but it seems the two influencers were at least friendly but def far from besties. Which makes the following very nuanced.

Is it breaking girl code to pursue your mutual’s ex?

I’m going to hold your hand when I say this: no one can take your partner away from you. Unless those Etsy witch spells are a lot more powerful than I think, when a man goes, he goes willingly. While it would be ideal if anyone I ever met, was nice too, or had breathed the same air as me stayed TF away from my male territory, so I didn’t have to hear about it or picture them together, that’s simply not reality. There are a million comments asking why didn’t she pick literally anyone else, but that question is irrelevant. Real girl code, or perhaps Grown Woman Code, is realizing the only thing that matters here is that Halley’s ex-boyfriend-turned-boyfriend-again was the only one obligated to have considered Halley’s feelings first when starting something new. It might be a ruthless, self-serving approach to dating, but you can’t snake someone you never promised unspoken loyalty to in the first place.

The ironic part of this controversy is the majority of the videos bashing Sophia are suggesting that bringing this up again now is proof that Sophia is clearly an “evil mean girl” who wants everything Halley has including her internet fame. They’ve made fun of Sophia’s voice, her apparent vapidness, her simply ~mortifying~ lack of followers compared to Halley’s, and her obsession with the situation that they “hypothetically” witnessed her rant about in acting class. Respectfully, I think a lot of us non-thespians would find many people in your NYC acting class full of TikTokers a bit over the top. In fact, all of the influencers in this space are a tiny bit obsessed with how they look, and that’s why we watch them get dressed every day!

I’m not saying Halley’s friends shouldn’t have her back. The minute my BFF’s ex hard launches, I’m poking fun at the new girl’s outfit, the way she parts her hair — something to comfort my friend if she’s feeling insecure in the group text. To publicly dunk en masse on one individual (who wasn’t the one to expose the situation in the first place) doesn’t feel very girl power to me. Just like Halley posted she has a right to talk about her experience, doesn’t Sophia? It can’t just work one way, or on Halley’s timing, because Halley has chosen to take back the person who could’ve eliminated the issue in the first.

Now if Sophia had come out with this gossip on their engagement day, or went Alexis Bellino-level intensity in her videos, I could certainly understand the ire. But given it’s just another damn Tuesday, wouldn’t Halley’s best revenge have been to continue enjoying her healed relationship instead of giving this person the clout her girl gang insists is Sophia’s only possible motive for posting? No one has to like the smug throne from which Sophia shares her opinion (literally or otherwise), but the reality is it doesn’t take an empath to put yourself in both of your shoes and see where they’re coming from.

Instead of a healthy discourse, or even just lifting Halley up if she’s really feeling down, TikTok is laden with some vicious girl-on-girl roasting all for a dude half of her fans and Halley said was trash six months ago. Let’s hope the next six months bring everyone a lot more peace.