When the fitness influencer Kate Mackz uploaded her newest running-themed interview video, she had no idea she was about to become the internet’s latest punching bag. But Mackz had stepped into a minefield by doing something that in the ultraprogressive TikTok ecosystem is still unthinkable: humanizing a Trump administration official.
For context, Mackz’s content is all about promoting running, fitness, and healthy lifestyles by meeting up with famous people to jog with them and interview them about their lives. For example, one of her most recent videos before this blowup was one where she met up with tennis star Sloane Stephens to jog and hear about Stephens’ childhood growing up with athlete parents. But now she’s facing backlash for collaborating with an undeniably famous but controversial figure: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
