A young TikTok user went viral for posting a video of when she matched with Matthew Perry on a celebrity dating app. She released the video to expose how older men in Hollywood allegedly “take advantage” of younger women on dating apps.
Kate Haralson, 20, said she was only 19 when she matched with Friends star, Matthew Perry, 51, on the elite dating app Raya last May. She said he asked to move their conversations from Raya to FaceTime almost immediately after matching.
When she posted the private FaceTime call on her TikTok this week, it went viral. “A lot of people were saying I’m a bully and mean for posting this, and it made me feel kind of bad, but at the same time, I feel like a lot of guys in Hollywood are talking to all these young girls and it’s something that I think a lot of people should be aware of,” Haralson told Page Six.
Haralson said she had matched with other celebrities before but doesn’t “ever talk to older guys.” However, she chose to talk with Perry because she thought it would be funny as she had recognized the famous actor but has not really watched Friends before. “I was not really thinking anything of it,” she said.
She explained that their conversation wasn’t sexual in nature, but she did feel uncomfortable at times, especially since she was upfront about her age. He asked her a number of questions, including if he was the same age as her father. “It kind of felt weird talking to someone my dad’s age and it just felt not right, especially when he knew how young I was.”
Haralson has been kicked off the elite dating app, she exclusively told Page Six on Friday.
“I should have expected that would happen,” Haralson says. “I feel fine about it. I never really used it anymore anyways.”
Haralson said her friend was the one who recorded the clip of her and Perry on the call, which is what she posted in the video. “Honestly, I never really had any intention of posting it, but then I say that one video, and thought, ‘Oh, this would be funny,’” she said. The video that she was “inspired” by was another viral video shared on TikTok by a user named Naivine Jay, who posted a personal video of Ben Affleck after they matched on Raya.
Jay said that she unmatched Affleck because she “thought it was fake.” In the video she shared, Jay had got a message that he sent to her Instagram account. “Nivine, why did you unmatch me? It’s me,” he said in the video.
After Affleck began getting backlash online for her video, Jay spoke out. “I’m seeing a lot of comments calling him a creep, and I don’t think that’s fair. I wasn’t making fun of him in the video. I was making fun of myself for thinking he was a catfish, and it was just supposed to be funny,” she told E! News.
Both girls are now in touch and Jay has advised Haralson to “ignore all the hate comments.” “Obviously, a lot of people are going to take his side since he’s a celeb TV character, but that’s OK,” Haralson said. She decided to take down her video within less than 24 hours of posting it because she felt bad and stated that Perry really was a “nice guy.”
“I just did it more for the joke of it, which sounds mean, but I didn’t think anything of it,” she said. “I thought it was more so innocent and harmless,” Haralson concluded. “Honestly, it’s not really OK for these older guys to be talking to such young girls.”
Others have commented on the interactions, including Chrissy Teigen. “I agree celebs shouldn’t be making these creepy desperate video replies on Raya,” she wrote on Twitter. “But it’s tacky to release private messages. Ya both wrong, congrats,” she concluded.
