‘He was a gentle giant’: Friends remember Michigan-based TikTok viral star Rory Teasley

TikTok influencer Rory Teasley was planning to spend next weekend in Dallas. His flights and an Airbnb were already booked – a much-anticipated trip to celebrate a good friend’s birthday. But the only celebrations taking place now are in memory of Teasley after he was would have been strangled to death January 6 by her longtime boyfriend, Docquen Jovo Watkins, 31, in an argument over the video game “Overwatch”.

A candlelight vigil and balloon release took place on Saturday, January 15 in front of the Pontiac apartment where the murder took place. Teasley’s viewing is scheduled for today and his funeral will follow on Friday. Friends remember Teasley, 28, as a fun and good-natured party life.

“If you live in the Pontiac, Rory Teasley’s house was definitely one of the places to drive, literally,” Teasley’s friend Dawan Glover said in a Facebook post. “He was serving nems fresh out of his window.”

Kehondre Leak, whose friendship with Teasley dates back to their high school days, agreed.

“Spring rolls were everything,” he told Pride Source. “[They were] Michigan’s best spring rolls, hands down. If someone says otherwise, he is lying. He made them from scratch and also made his sauce from scratch. He didn’t tell anyone the secret of his spring rolls, but he let me watch him make them, so I kinda know the secret.

On TikTok, like 2Pump4Tv, Teasley was also famous for its bread rolls, but not the egg variety. More like hip rolls. He has some 260,000 followers, including an increase of over 40,000 since his death and over 2.8 million likes. He introduced himself on the social media platform as “everyone’s best gay friend”.

His videos ran the gamut from silly jokes and routines to another one of his skills: twerking. In fact, on his PageInstagram, he introduced himself as an “international twerking instructor”.

“He loved twerking,” his friend Damein Carter told Pride Source. “That ass moved, and it was big.”

Raven Turner Cassadine agreed. “He was like the twerkanator,” she said. “I’ve never seen anyone perform the dance like he does.”

Leak said his friend was attracting worldwide attention. “He was very loved and supported,” he said. “He touched his audience with the sketches he produced. Then he kept “bouncing” or, as we all know, “twerking”. It went viral and caught the attention of people like Monique, Big Freedia, Gabrielle Union, Kash Doll and many more celebrities.

As her social media fame grew, Teasley began traveling across the country to perform.

“He loved traveling to different states and showing off his talent,” Leak continued. “New Orleans loved him, Flint, Atlanta, Detroit – he captured such a huge audience it was crazy. He always said, ‘I’m famous.’ I said, ‘Friend, shut up, you’re not famous yet’… but you couldn’t tell him he wasn’t famous.

Leak said that as Teasley’s fame grew, her relationship with her boyfriend became more troublesome. He said Watkins was “jealous of the attention [Teasley] received and how much he travelled.

Still, if there was physical abuse in the relationship, Leak said he was unaware. “I never knew the relationship was violent,” he said, pointing out that Watkins was only 5’1″ and weighed less than 200 pounds. “Verbal, yes. Physical, no. Rory was 6 ‘1″ or 6’2”. Three hundred and something pounds. I couldn’t imagine him hurting anyone. He was a gentle giant. … But Rory would always tell me how sick of arguing he was. and stuff like that. So when I met [Watkins], I didn’t care about him.

Teasley may have been known for his bounces and jokes on TikTok, but he also tackled more serious topics. On June 29, 2021, he published an article on domestic violence. “Stop ignoring those red flags, man,” he said. “I know they can look like Six Flags when you’re in love. But protect your sanity.

Teasley’s Last Days

So far, 2022 was proving to be something of a mixed bag for Teasley. On New Years Day at 7:10 a.m., he posted that the night was “by far one of the best New Years I’ve had.” Then a few days later, on January 5, just one day before his own untimely death, Teasley lost his grandmother, Blanche Teasley.

Glover partied with Teasley on New Years Eve at the Backstreet nightclub in Detroit.

“He was very popular, he had dozens of people looking for his twerking skills,” Glover said. “We sat next to each other and wished each other luck for the coming year and then this one. I didn’t even know he had a boyfriend.

The last video he posted lamented aging, which for Teasley meant approaching 30 – an age he will never reach again.

@too2pump4tv Aging a Mf 😭😭😭🤣🤣‼️😩 #Fyp #ForYouPage #2Pump4Tv #Old #routine #logging #bye2021 #fitcheck #2021summary ♬ Ground cracking (concrete house crack sound clip) [Sound Effect] – Finnolia sound effects

In the wake of his tragic death, friends wonder what happened and why Teasley had to die. However, one thing is obvious: he will not be forgotten.

“He always gives you the best hugs,” said cassadine. “He didn’t know any foreigners. Not at all. He was truly the definition of a very good person. … He had no enemies. Everyone loved him. »

“Rory was the light of the room,” Leak added. “When he walked in, he captured everyone’s attention and demanded it with no questions asked. If you didn’t get along with Rory, there was something wrong with you. Honestly , there is nothing negative that came out of his body. He was always smiling, laughing and joking with everyone.

Visitation for Teasley is today until 6 p.m. at Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home, located at 268 North Perry Street in Pontiac. Teasley’s funeral will be tomorrow, Friday, January 21 at 11 a.m. The funeral will take place at Welcome Missionary Baptist Church, located at 143 Oneida Street in Pontiac. A GoFundMe page was created to help Teasley’s family cover the cost of their final arrangements. So far just over $2,500 has been raised with a goal of $10,000.

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