Those Paul Mescal Date-and-Dash TikTok Rumors Made His Mom Sad

Late last year, TikTok, as often happens, became saturated with wild celebrity speculation. This time the gossip was about Paul Mescal and the allegations that our guy was out here, waltzing around London, looking for hook-ups, then taking his date on a walk the next day and running away from her.

It was the kind of outlandish rumor that even an unseasoned PR person would advise against acknowledging. And Mescal seemed to do exactly that until, perhaps inevitably, addressing the ridiculousness in a new GQ cover story.

The Gladiator II star reportedly let out a laugh and an "Ohhhhhhh… Fucking hell!" when the subject was broached. He then recalled first seeing the videos while at home with his siblings over the holidays: "We were looking at the videos and we were pissing ourselves at it. Categorically untrue. And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing."

But the absurdity had its limits. Mescal said the one thing that "upset" him was when his mom saw the videos and got upset herself. "Isn't that devastating?" Mescal said. "I was like, Oh, it's funny to us — my brother, me, my sister — because we know that this is the way the internet works. It's hilarious. If it was true, it'd be fucking bad, but as a rumor, it's funny. Then I was like, Oh, if you're a mother, her impulse is to come out and be like, 'He wouldn't do this.' "

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While Mescal was still, understandably, a little unnerved by the experienced, and nervous about saying the wrong thing, he maintained some sense of humor about it. After spotting a book called, London's Hidden Walks, he apparently joked, "I should take these for my running-away dates."

Even still, this should serve as an important reminder for anyone spouting unverified celebrity gossip or tall tales on TikTok: Don't do it — you might make someone's mom sad.