If you don’t know who ChriseanRock and Blueface are, you must be avoiding social media at all costs.
Even though many have said everything they learned about the infamous couple has been against their will, the duo is constantly trending online for the various iterations of toxicity in their on-again-off-again relationship.
While some are entertained by their relationship woes, others are concerned the continued volatility between the two will ultimately have a negative impact on the couple’s unborn child, as Chrisean is nearly six months pregnant.
In case you haven’t been on social media, here’s a little history about the young couple.
Blueface, 26, is a rapper from California who rose to fame in 2018 after his single “Respect My Cryppin’” went viral due to his off-beat rhyming style. That same year, he dropped his viral hit “Thotiana,” which gained a guest appearance on the remix from Cardi B.
Born Jonathan Porter Jr., the Los Angeles native is one of three children raised by his mother, Karlissa Saffold after she and his father, Jonathan Porter Sr., split. He moved around a lot during his youth but still became a standout high school football player. He signed with Fayetteville State University, but his college football career was short-lived after he dropped out due to an issue with the coaching staff.
Blueface, a known member of the School Yard Crips, also has a complicated relationship with his estranged mother, whom many blame for his toxicity. The mother and son pair have often traded jabs on social media, including Saffold oddly discussing his private parts and bedroom activities online.
“F—k that lady. I don’t have a mom. She’s weird. She’s strange. I don’t know what her motive is, her angle. I don’t know what she’s trying to accomplish with her outreaches and whatever she does,” Blueface told RapTV during an interview back in April. “I really don’t care for her; she’s not in my best interest, so what can I do with that.”
The West Coast rapper said he became interested in music after returning home and hearing his voice on the mic while visiting a studio.
Chrisean, 23, is also a rapper and reality television star who rose to fame due to her big personality which she displayed during her time on Blueface’s reality series. The artist born Chrisean Malone is a Baltimore native and one of 12 children who grew up in poverty and homelessness due to her father’s incarceration and her mother’s battle with drug addiction.
“We went from one, like probably one bedroom apartment and it’s all of us to living with people. I say nine years I been homeless,” Chrisean shared in an interview. “When I was 9 and I first went homeless and she said we was gonna get a home … I kept believing that and it end up being, ‘Oh, I’m 15, 16 now.’”
She was a standout track and field athlete who appeared on the show “Ultimate Tag” in mid-2020, where she won the $10,000 grand prize. “Since I didn’t have the childhood I should’ve had then I can have the future that I deserve,” Chrisean continued, noting her hardships were “motivation” for her to succeed.
The duo met in 2020 when Chrisean appeared as a contestant on Blueface’s OnlyFans “Blue Girls Club” show where she competed for his love and quickly became a fan favorite. After losing a tooth while fighting with Jaidyn Alexis, the mother of Blueface’s two children, on the show, Chrisean walked away from the victory and won a record deal with Blueface’s record label.
While her fame and financial status have skyrocketed since then, the various iterations of toxicity in her and Blueface’s relationship have many concerned about the well-being of the “Baddies West” star and that of their unborn child.
Both individuals have each been arrested multiple times for domestic disputes and assaults involving themselves and others. In February 2022, Blueface accused the “Vibe” rapper of breaking into his house, stealing his car and writing “I love Blue” in blood on his wall. She was later arrested and charged for allegedly selling drugs.
In May 2022, Chrisean admitted to fighting Blueface’s mother and sister, though they both accused him of being the instigator on social media. Later in August, the couple got into a knockdown, drag-out fight in Hollywood and Blueface claimed she was arrested for trespassing. A month later in September, he fought Chrisean’s dad, who pressed him for putting his hands on his daughter.
To make matters worse, Chrisean went on record saying her dad getting “knocked out” was long overdue.
“The same Dad that got knocked out was the same guy that tied my mom up in da woods just to beat her cuz she scream so loud in the house when he beat her in front of us,” Chrisean wrote in some now-deleted tweets. “So he went out of his way to damage my whole family, that same dad I met when I was 7. … Somebody was been supposed to knock that n—a out a long time ago.”
In October 2022, Chrisean revealed that Blueface beat her in an Instagram Live video. Though she had visible injuries, she retracted the accusation the next day. Later that month, she tweeted she was single after a video of Blueface in bed with another woman surfaced online.
The separation was short-lived as the couple began making appearances together again, but things went left once again earlier this year. Chrisean had a meltdown during a podcast interview in Jan. 2023, where she was removed by security as she screamed out his name. She later announced she was pregnant by the Los Angeles rapper, though he has denied paternity.
Blueface was most recently arrested on June 7 in Las Vegas on suspicion of robbery in connection with him taking a cellphone from a woman who allegedly filmed Chrisean. The victim accused both parties of assaulting her after she said “f—k” Blueface.
In between these events, Chrisean has leaked clips of their sex tape online. Blueface has also praised Alexis while criticizing Chrisean, who threw a glass at his head that shattered and cut him. There are a host of other toxic instances that are not specifically listed. But if you know, you know.
Most recently, Blueface has been trending for asking his 6-year-old son if he was gay as the little boy chose to search for some food in a pantry instead of watching strippers in their living room at home. Meanwhile, the state of Oklahoma issued an arrest warrant for Chrisean for possession and intent to sell drugs. She has since come out and said the state just “wants some f—king money” so she will “give it to them.”
If just reading that was a lot, one can only imagine living it. While the couple is currently estranged and have removed images of one another from their social media, their unhealthy relationship continues to garner attention.
The Black-owned Zeus Network even gave them their own reality show called “Blueface & Chrisean: Crazy In Love,” which is preparing to release season 2. According to Zeus CEO Lemuel Plummer, who’s come under fire for promoting what many deem as toxic representations of Black people, he believes in putting “raw” and uncut content on his platform.
“Don’t be mad at me. I think we’re just trying to be as authentic and real and raw and uncensored, unfiltered as possible so with that you’re going to get feedback,” Plummer said in an interview with The Buzz in 2022 when asked about the network receiving backlash. “You’re going to get negative feedback, you’re going to get positive feedback. Some people love it, some people hate it.”
He noted that Zeus’ success continues to rise, indicating that people are enjoying the content, which is constantly trending on Twitter and Instagram.
“People are watching, our numbers are growing every day. We’re scaling. We’re getting tons of subscribers, tons of viewers … we’re doing better than most traditional networks if not all the majors, the VH1s, the WE TVs,” Plummer continued. “We’re putting it out as raw but as premium as possible.”
Blueface and Chrisean are far from being the first celebrity couple that has been highlighted in the media for glamorizing their toxic romance.
Whether it was giving Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown a reality show to highlight their volatile courtship and marriage or the immense amount of attention City Girls rapper JT received for throwing her phone at her boyfriend, rapper Lil Uzi Vert, while cursing him out at the BET Awards last week, many people seemingly love to see it.
A 2022 article about how problematic it is for the media to glamorize toxic relationships focused on the danger of the popular trend. One psychologist discussed how early childhood experiences tend to seep into adult relationships.
“Most of us find we replicate early childhood relationship dynamics in our adulthood. Usually, the kinds of relationships we have witnessed or experienced growing up are typically what we are drawn to as adults,” Dr. Sarah Davies, psychologist and author of “Never Again: Moving On from Narcissistic Abuse and Other Toxic Relationships,” told Cosmopolitan.
Since Chrisean and Blueface both come from what many consider broken homes, it can be inferred that this has likely influenced their behavior. But the trend is not limited to celebrities. A 2017 study in Psychology Today revealed more than 60 percent of teens stayed in unhealthy or toxic relationships, according to The Clarion, an online website published by students at Lincoln Southwest High School.
A 2018 graduate named Chelsea Bergonia revealed that she was in a toxic relationship in her junior year but she believed it would work itself out like many do.
“I witnessed unhealthy relationships, which made me believe toxicity was do-able,” she said. “When you love someone you’ll make excuses for their negative behavior.”
If youth carry unhealthy relationship patterns into adulthood and art imitates life or vice-versa, it may explain why so many are comfortable consuming the content of toxic relationships on our big, small and online screens.
Just because we can explain why something is done, doesn’t mean we should continue to do it. Instead of looking at toxic relationships through rose-colored glasses as passion-filled and exciting, they should be clearly defined as dangerous gateways to real-life consequences.
But deeming a relationship toxic is not nearly enough. If we want the media to stop glamorizing unhealthy unions, we have to stop eagerly consuming them.
