The Viral ‘DoorDash Girl’ Saga Unearthed a Nightmare for Black Creators

A delivery driver posted a TikTok alleging she had been sexually assaulted by a customer. The deepfakes that followed reveal a growing digital blackface problem.

When DoorDash delivery driver Livie Rose Henderson posted a video alleging that one of her customers sexually assaulted her in October, it set off a firestorm of reactions.

Henderson’s TikTok claimed that when she was dropping off a delivery in Oswego, New York, she found a customer’s front door wide open and inside, a man on the couch with his pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles. Henderson was dubbed the “DoorDash Girl,” and her video accrued tens of millions of views, including some supportive and consoling responses to what she said she had endured on the job as a young woman. Many others on the platform made commentary videos that called into question Henderson's alleged victimhood, defended the customer, and ...