A TikTok content creator has gone viral for recounting a first date that she hated and then expressing that she wasn’t wasting time on people she doesn’t like. But what was the reason?

Her date purportedly told her that he didn’t like that Helen of Troy was played by a Black woman in the 2026 film The Odyssey because he thought a Black woman couldn't be as beautiful as Helen of Troy was famed to be.

Grayson Smith, who uses the handle @grayson.smith12 on TikTok, is an Austin-based content creator who focuses on fashion, lifestyle and food content.

In July, she posted the video where she recounted the "nightmare first date," which has since garnered over half a million views and tons of comments from other users weighing in on her story.

@grayson.smith12 Run #dating #storytime #baddate #atx ♬ original sound – Grayson Smith

"I was on a first date the other day, and it was going fine," Smith said at the beginning of her video. She then said that she brought up the movie The Odyssey, saying that she was very excited to go see it.

However, her date didn’t seem to share her enthusiasm for the film. According to Smith, the man said that "it’s actually gonna be a pass" for him.

Smith seemed surprised and confused by this, so she asked him why he didn’t want to go see the film, to which he replied that it was because "Helen of Troy is a Black woman," referring to the fact that actress Lupita Nyong'o was playing the famed character in Christopher Nolan's adaptation of the Ancient Greek tale.

"I looked at him, and I was just, like, huh?" Smith said, with a confused expression. However, her date doubled down, saying that "she’s supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world; she started the war."

"Literally, my stomach dropped," she expressed, putting emphasis on the last word. Smith says she looked at him and asked him if he didn’t think a Black woman could do that, to which he replied, "No."

She then gave the camera a wide-eyed, shocked look, showing how appalled she was at his answer.

"My stomach turned to knots, and I was so sick and uncomfortable," she said. Smith proceeds to recount that she looked at him and told him that she was leaving the date, and that she then packed up all her things and left.

"Recently, I’ve just made it so clear to myself that I'm not giving a drop of time or energy into anybody who I would never want to be associated with," Smith stated emphatically.

She then confessed that she was also scared to tell her date that she would be leaving because she didn't know how he would react. "I don't know this man, like, you never know how someone's gonna retaliate."

Smith then expressed that this was an example of her not caring about what someone else will think, "and just saying, like, I'm leaving, I don't want to talk to you or be around anymore. That is hard to do, like, on dates. I feel like, honestly, I've been having to do that a lot."

"I think we really just have to normalise immediately leaving," Smith expressed. "Dinner date, they say something weird. Leave," she said, before adding, "Safely, of course." Finally, Smith concluded her video with a frustrated "Ugh!"

Many commenters on her viral video agreed with Smith’s shock at her date’s comment, pointing out Lupita Nyong'o’s beauty or the fact that it was strange that he would be so comfortable saying something like that.