She Just Looks Annoying: Internet Sexism, Double Standards, Grooming Discourse, and the Recent Joey King and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Cheating Rumors

Before I even begin to dissect the latest celebrity internet gossip involving Aaron Taylor-Johnson allegedly cheating on his longtime wife (and accused groomer), I will answer the preemptive question of Who Cares? Because before I decided to write this, I asked myself the same thing. The answer is nobody but also everybody. Because if I were to leave my computer and walk out onto the street and ask random strangers what their thoughts are on Joey King and Aaron Taylor-Johnson allegedly hooking up I have a feeling most people would have no idea who either of those people are and know even less about their alleged affair. However, what’s valuable about me about discussing this has nothing to do with any of the real people involved and more to do with what it says about our current social culture. I do not know Joey King or Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and I have no idea if they even had an affair. But I am aware of what they symbolize, and what they can be boiled down to. Joey King is Woman, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Male Victim, and his wife, Sam Taylor-Johnson, is Woman Abuser. 

For those that are free from the shackles of internet addiction, I will do my best to explain the details of this drama. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is an English actor who is married to Sam Taylor-Johnson, a prominent Director. They have an age gap of over twenty years, and, allegedly, Sam Taylor-Johnson met or knew Aaron when he was a child, though that information is unconfirmed. They worked together for the first time in 2009 on Sam Taylor-Johnson’s film Nowhere Boy. At the time the movie was made, Aaron was 19 years old and Sam was 42. According to an Insider article that chronicles their relationship timeline, the married couple has stated that their relationship was strictly professional while on set, and at the film’s premiere, they announced their engagement. Their relationship has faced a lot of scrutiny by the general public for the large age gap and particularly for how young Aaron had his first child with Sam. Since their marriage over a decade ago, Aaron and Sam have gushed about each other in interviews. Sam Taylor-Johnson stated during one interview, “The great thing about Aaron is that he’s happy not working and being at home with the kids while I work.” And Aaron on his part has said, “I get more fulfillment from being a father than I do from being an actor.” And has stated about his marriage, “I feel secure and loved and safe. We have this very deep connection.”

However, the general public doesn’t seem to buy this. With the increase in popularity of TikTok and grooming discourse over all social media platforms, their relationship has been put under scrutiny again, this time aided by Gen Z. There are countless viral videos where creators go over slideshows of instances of alleged grooming or significant age gaps in celebrity couples. Billie Elish’s newest relationship is another recent subject of controversy. She is currently dating Jesse Rutherford, who is ten years her senior. The general reaction to their relationship was so negative that Billie even made fun of it on Halloween by doing a couple’s costume dressed as a baby and an old man. While the internet before this seemed to be acting on a self-belief of “protecting” their beloved Pop star, as soon as Billie publicly joked on the matter, any original sympathy seemed to dissipate. Some users tweeted that if Billie was aware of this dynamic, she was complicit, and thus no longer should be afforded the title of victim. But that begs the question, Who claimed her as a victim in the first place? It seems recently, it is the internet’s job to tell people if they are being abused. This was evident with the highly publicized Depp v Heard case. Despite Amber Heard stating she was a victim, the internet and the general public were afforded the ability to reject her declaration, despite a previous court case that stated Depp had been abusive. After the #MeToo movement, we were told to believe victims who come out, yet now it seems the only “victims” the internet so adamantly believes are the ones who haven’t spoken. Ironically, Heard speaking out about the abuse she suffered only led to an onslaught of verbal abuse and threats from the public, and an end to her career. 

Conversely, Aaron-Taylor Johnson, now 32 has only ever spoken positively about his spouse, yet she is consistently labeled as an abuser by the internet. I would argue that telling somebody they’re a victim is taking away their autonomy just as an abuser would. It is saying: This is what you are and this is how you should feel. It is also important to note the disproportionate hatred of Sam Taylor-Johnson, despite many male celebrities having significant age gaps in their relationships with nobody batting an eye. So what is the goal of the internet’s unrest? Is the outrage meant to awaken Aaron to the abuse he’s being told he’s experiencing? To “Free Him?” And what if he is happy? Why does that make us so uncomfortable? It challenges what is normal. It is not normal for a woman to be older in a heterosexual relationship and it is not normal for the male partner to be less interested in having a career. Videos on TikTok detail Sam Taylor-Johnson, a disgusting groomer, plotting to destroy Aaron’s career so he is forced to be a stay-at-home father. Because what man would ever want that? Frequent comments on their relationship describe Sam Taylor-Johnson as a “grandma” and state how Aaron is out of her league. I would argue this whole situation could be viewed very differently if Sam was seen as a hot MILF or if the public wasn’t so infatuated and attracted to Aaron. 

Enter: Joey King or in this essay: Woman. Joey King is a successful actress most recently known for the Kissing Booth movies and her Emmy-nominated role playing Gypsy Rose in Hulu’s The Act. She is also strangely disliked on the internet, mainly for nebulous reasons, such as the fact that people think she has relationships with men out of her league (Jacob Elordi) and that she “seems annoying.” She was a frequent celebrity featured on “Nightmare Blunt Rotations” which was a popular TikTok trend about a year ago. And now, she allegedly hooked up with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, despite there being no evidence (thus far) to back this up. This has brought the internet to a crossroads: The Woman We Don’t Like For No Particular Reason May Be Leading to the Man Victim We Do Like leaving his Abusive Woman Groomer. This whole drama illustrates many existing issues in the ways the internet contextualizes abuse, Pop psychology, celebrity autonomy, and women in general and thus the way our society views these subjects as well. In a world where Brad Pitt is shouted-out during multiple acceptance speeches at the Golden Globes after Angelina Jolie and her children come out about his abuse and Johnny Depp appears at awards shows after his texts were read in court where he described women as cunts and pigs, it makes me wonder how much of the recent grooming and abuse outrage is really about protecting victims versus how much of it is about loving the idea of saving them.