E-Paper
Dillon Danis' sick attacks on Logan Paul's fiance Nina Agdal show how social media normalises misogyny
Dillon Danis has been relentlessly harassing Nina Agdal, posting her topless pictures and making sexist remarks in an attempt to anger Logan Paul
Dubbing women’s experiences in online spaces as “trolling” is an understatement. Remarks women face on social media platforms, for various reasons, are mostly characterised by sexist harassment, misogyny, and abuse. This is exactly what Nina Agdal, Logan Paul’s fiance, has been dealing with for the past few days.
An explicit video that social media users believe features Nina has been doing the rounds after it was shared by Dillon Danis, although several reports have dismissed claims that the woman in the video is Nina. This comes after Logan's fight with Dillon, who showcased Nina’s dating history in an attempt to mess with Paul.
Logan and Dillon’s feud reached its peak this week when the MMAstar crossed a line with their October 14 fight. On August 8, Paul announced his return to the ring, prompting Dillon to launch a social media war. Dillon went on to troll and harass Logan, going to the extent of making sexist remarks about Nina.
Dillon Danis’ sick attacks
Dillon shared the recent video after various other posts he shared on social media about Nina. The video shows a woman, who Dillon believed is Nina, in an intimate setting alongside an elderly gentleman. The woman is seen showing off her private parts. Dillon claimed he possesses several other embarrassing photos and videos of Nina, saying, “I wanna drop these nukes I have of Nina so bad it would literally break the internet.”
Read: Logan Paul defeats Ricochet at SummerSlam, on road to see Jake's fight with Nate
Dillon’s sick approach towards attacking Paul, where he involved a woman who has nothing to do with their fight, has prompted an uproar on social media. People of all genders can experience violence and abuse online, but often remarks women have to deal with are sexualised and include comments about their bodies. Shaming, belittling and silencing women in the name of “trolling” has now become a constant practice.
Boxing has never really involved respect between competitors, but slut-shaming women in the competitors' lives is the foulest way of dealing with the drama. Dillon’s approach is not one-of-a-kind. It is a popular tactic in the online space.
Read: Logan Paul says he walked out of Oppenheimer screening: ‘Just talking talking’
Nina is a Danish model famous for her Sports Illustrated campaigns alongside Chrissy Teigen and Lily Aldridge. It is hard to imagine how Dillon’s relentless online harassment must have been affecting her.
This has been going on for at least a month, with Dillon taking to X (formerly Twitter) to post topless pictures of Nina in an attempt to anger Logan – photos that appear to be consensually taken. Pictures of her former boyfriends were also dug out. Some of the images were visibly photoshopped.
How social media tried to rip Nina Agdal apart
Back in August, after Dillon launched his attack on Nina, ‘Nina Agdal past boyfriends,’ ‘Nina Agdal body count,’ and ‘Nina Agal ex Leonardo DiCaprio’ began trending. Simply put, a sickening ego battle between two grown-up men led to a woman’s character being ripped apart, her seemingly normal past encounters with men being laid bare for online trolls to demean her with vile, sexist comments.
It doesn’t matter who Nina has dated in the past, or how many people she had dated. No one is given the right to sexualise her because of topless modelling she has been a part of – it was her choice.
How long will women, especially those who express feminist sentiments, endure this abuse? People on social media openly call women whores and bit****, harass them with sexual images and remarks, make rape threats and encourage them to attempt suicide. This has been going on for ages.
Dillon is not a random social media user hiding behind a fake image and profile. He is a real person, celebrated, appreciated and looked up to by would-be boxers. It is disappointing how effortlessly he abused and shamed Nina, and it reveals how so many people degrade women because they are confident they will get away with it. And they do.
Social media has given people a platform to openly reduce women to sexual objects. It is not a celebration of female sexuality, but a reflection of their extreme hatred and contempt for women.
‘You are not an internet piece of clickbait’
Nina previously appeared on Logan’s podcast, ‘Impaulsive,’ and talked about their engagement. They opened up about how they had to keep their relationship as private as possible to escape trolling.
“I’ve been so intentional about keeping things between us, you are not an internet piece of clickbait,” Logan said to Nina on the podcast. “You’re my everything. I don’t want to drag you into this shitstorm, it’s a f*cking hellhole online. You have to have iron skin. We posted our first picture together for our anniversary, and the comments are scathing, being so mean to Nina.”
“It is just not okay, people are negative for no reason,” Nina said. “I’ll pretend like I don’t care, but it f*cking sucks.”
Logan Paul stoops, then apologises
Logan too, unfortunately, hit a new low when he insulted Dillon’s mother, Nikki Danis, by calling her a “prostitute”. However, he later issued an apology for his inappropriate remarks during an interview on FLAGRANT. “What do you want from me? You want me to be an angel? [You insinuated his mom was a prostitute] Nah, nah, nah. I didn’t wanna do that. Nikki, I’m sorry, I’m f*****g sorry. I swear to God I didn’t wanna do that,” Logan said during the interview.
“And you’re right. You’re right. I did do it. And I did it because I was pushed to a line ‘cause my opponent crossed a line and I shouldn’t have stooped to his level. I shouldn’t. Nikki, I’m f*****g sorry. You raised a scumbag, you did. He’s a bad person. And he got me to a place where I didn’t wanna go,” he added.
The views expressed are the author's own.
Get more updates from Bollywood, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.
