On January 7, a rising star on TikTok, Chef Waymo, had a recipe for oxtail pasta go more viral than he intended, as many online recognized him and his slightly changed username as one of the many men who would spend months harassing Black women (notably darker complected and bigger women) off of social media. Within days, sponsors dropped Waymond B. Wesley II. The most sickening element of the whole situation was that his colorism and deep self-hatred would further affect people’s lives as Wesley served as an assistant prosecutor for the Harris County District Attorney.
For reasons that I, and many other Black women, pointed out, the fact that he served as a prosecutor for a DA made this situation worse and the stakes much higher. The criminal justice system’s discrimination based on gender and race is well documented, and in the last 15+ years, emerging data has shown colorism in the criminal justice system, too. Despite this and surprising to anyone outside of Harris County, the elected DA, Kim Ogg, stood by Wesley and insisted that his bias was not an issue.
Ogg, who lost what little support she had within months of her election, insisted that Wesley—unlike the residents of Harris County, as their office aggressively seeks to limit justice reform—deserved a second chance. Also, she wasn’t the person to give that chance, because she was not the target of his vitriol. The office was within its ill-advised rights to open itself up to litigation on his cases, but not to dub him free of biases—especially ones he so clearly holds.
Wesley’s statement
On January 24, Wesley posted a resignation statement on Instagram, Twitter, and then TikTok. While he said, “My alcoholism is not an excuse, but it gives context for who I was at that time in my life,” later in the statement, Wesley said he had no deep-rooted hatred of Black women, then or now. Which is it? Because he didn’t pick on anyone else. Substance abuse and alcoholism can be partially to blame for his actions, but nothing you can pour in a glass can make you Islamaphobic, misogynistic, and anti-Black. That was/is already there.
The “commitment to change” elements of the apology seem to come down a commitment to being sober. This is great (not sarcasm), but says nothing about what he is doing to address his hatred of Black women—the change that is really needed. He spent more time talking about himself and not addressing the women he hurt. While Wesley spent the time to debunk one tweet, he said nothing regarding his nasty tweets on Sandra Bland’s death or the other very specific instances of targeted harassment. This includes the women who accused him of sexually harassing a classmate in law school.
This statement was likely released only because Wesley was caught. A petition was circulating online to remove Wesley from his position with the DA, but it appears that many of those came from divestors only interested in hypergamy and misandry, rather than calling for justice. The genuine movement of organized people and groups seeking accountability protested in person on January 13. While the focus was on Wesley, there was a larger call for accountability in criminal justice reform.
Important note: These groups included a mix of civil rights groups like Rainbow Push Coalition, Brazoria County NAACP, and Houston Rising, but also a former leader of the New Black Pather Party—which is widely condemned as a hate group.
Less than a week after this statement, Wesley began uploading his Chef Way videos again. Of course, he did a teaser of this comeback of sorts by playing Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” with the lyrics, “I said I do this for my culture, to let y’all know what a n**** look like in a bulletproof Rover.” Okay.
The DA’s office and the women in his life
Since Wesley released this statement, the DA’s office, in typical copaganda fashion, blurred the timeline of events (like Waymo’s padding by referring to the events happening in childhood and not his mid to late 20s) and weaponized grammar to remove themselves from the situation in their statement.
When the office became aware of the posts two weeks ago, it was determined he could no longer effectively prosecute cases and he was reassigned. […] In his resignation letter, Wesley noted that ‘it has grown clear that my presence is becoming a distraction,’ and he and the office mutually agreed that it was in the best interests of his career and the District Attorney’s Office that he resign.”
His fiance, Melissa Tran (a.k.a. Bougie Bitez), who has taken her account off private, has failed to say anything, either. She doesn’t have any colorist remarks of her own surfacing, but at the start of this fallout, she defend his comments and said it was all “cancel culture.” As an aspiring model who’s branding herself with Chef Waymo (over 80% of her videos start with “My TikTok Famous Boyfriend Feeding Me“), Tran should learn from her husband-to-be and get ahead of this. Instead, she’s moving on like she didn’t make public statements downplaying the harm he inflicted.
In this controversy, I couldn’t help but think about TikToker Michelle’s perspective as an Asian woman who has been in conversations with many men like Wesley. (The video was a branch off of the Passport Bros trend, though there is zero indication Wesley/Tran are part of that.) Those men will make fun of Black women and talk about the women they flirt with and how great they are, as compared to their lowly thoughts on Black women.
@kk31387 Probably my last video about this but it isn’t even passport bros. Black men in general LOVE telling me how they don’t date black women like it’s something that I’d consider attractive. #redflags #relationship #passportbros #blackmen ♬ original sound – Kimchi Karen
(featured image: screencaps of Chef Waymo and Bougie Bitez TikTok)
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