Twitter is not having it with a clueless white TikTok user who shared a video of himself searching for a “real” grocery store in New York City. The TikToker, who one Twitter user identified as Griffin Green, was confused why his maps app kept directing him to bodegas when he searched for grocery stores.
“OK, so just moved to New York and I’m trying to go grocery shopping and so I type in ‘grocery stores’ on my Apple maps and every f**king one I go to they’re like this s**t,” the TikToker said while pointing the camera to two corner stores.
He went on to describe that he was looking for a store where he could get “eggs, yogurt, cheese, s**t like that.”
He then took viewers inside one of the bodegas. He laughed off the store’s hot bar, referencing the popular TikTok trend “The Ocky Way.” According to Know Your Meme, “The Ocky Way” refers to a sandwich that Arabic New York City bodegas and deli chefs are known for.
“Where are the Krogers, where are the Whole Foods at,” he asked his viewers, still not convinced bodegas are actual grocery stores.
The video concludes with the TikToker complaining about having to eat “cereal and ramen” for dinner.
He addressed the backlash he received from the video in another TikTok. He said he thought it was “funny” his app kept directing him to bodegas instead of grocery stores.
He added that he relocated to New York for a new job and was waiting for his lease to start on his Upper East Side apartment while subletting a “s**thole” apartment for a few weeks.
“And yes it’s a s**thole you can’t even argue with me on that,” he said. “There’s like trash everywhere on the sidewalks and streets and there’s people sleeping on the sidewalk.”
One user shared another one of his TikToks talking about his experience at the gym in the Bronx. In the video, he notes he’s the only white person there, and in order for “these people to vibe with me more,” he decided to wear an NAACP muscle tee.
Another person shared a TikTok of him questioning whether “being gay is just a thing now.”
“He gets even worse with every video,” they tweeted of his TikTok.
One viewer also mentioned the gym video, noting that in the comments he referred to Black people as the “colored community.”
Some people questioned why he struggled to find grocery stores in the city.
“F**k what he talking about but is this y’all grocery stores in NY?” they tweeted. “We have corner stores but also have full grocery stores.”
Others suggested the city isn’t for him.
“This is exactly why when transplants move in we start to see a shift of small mom and pop shops closing down. If you wanted a Whole Foods you should’ve moved your ass to a area that has Whole Foods but you can’t afford it so you’d rather complain,” one wrote.
“These gentrifiers NEED TO LEAVE. There is literally Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and local grocery stores ALL OVER NYC! Those are bodegas he is pointing out!” another said.
Some viewers came to his defense, arguing that his video highlights food insecurity in the country.
“Nah im a blk woman who moved to bk from suburban georgia and had the exact same reaction esp moving to flatbush brooklyn where there is exactly one real grocery store. it’s hard to feed yourself out here that’s y it’s called a food desert. ppl shouldn’t have to live like this,” one user wrote.
“I’m black and I would have been like him too tbh. In the south I don’t go to a corner store for food. I go to Publix, piggly wiggly, Winn Dixie, or, Walmart. I think it doesn’t help bc he’s white,” another added.
Green has since deleted some of his TikTok videos and made his account private.