Who's Michael Gruen and Why's He Inserting Himself Into the Jaden/Nessa/Mads/Josh Drama?

Hello, and welcome to another exciting chapter of Insane TikTok Drama I Can't Stop Obsessing Over Even Though It 100% Does Not Concern Me Whatsoever!

You can probably name all the major TikTok players who appear on Instagram tea pages like TikTokRoom and TikTokInsiders, but recently there's one person who keeps popping up and joining in on the latest drama — and he doesn't seem to be directly involved in it. What gives? Who is this Michael Gruen and why is he all over the Jaden Hossler/Nessa Barrett/Mads Lewis/Josh Richards cheating scandal that exploded in April 2020?

Michael is a 22-year-old businessman who co-founded Talent X Entertainment, which Forbes describes as "a talent development company for digital creators." The company represents many digital creators, including Josh Richards and Griffin Johnson. Michael even recently tweeted, "I’d take a bullet for Josh and Griffin. That’s all that matters."

He's clearly good friends with Josh since he's been standing up for him before, during, and after the news broke that Josh's (former) best friend, Jaden, is now dating Josh's ex-girlfriend, Nessa.

Michael has held nothing back and though many of his comments are arguably savage, it's no different than that time your BFF called your cheating ex a lying piece of dried up [redacted] for doing you dirty back in 2018. We love a supportive friend.

Since the cheating drama became public, Michael encouraged his fans, as well as Griffin, to unfollow Jaden and Nessa. Seriously, he's on a Twitter rampage right now and doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

And if he feels like TikTokers are siding with Jaden, or just not showing enough love for Josh, he will call 👏 you 👏 out 👏 and make you think twice about your loyalty. *cough* Kio Cyr *cough*

While it's clear Michael has serious issues with Jaden, he really has problems with Nessa. After she tweeted one tiny thing on the matter, Michael swooped in like Batman at a true crime convention who just learned his parents' murderer had set up a booth.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time Michael and Nessa have had beef.

Back in October 2020, Dexerto reported the duo were feuding. Nessa said this about Michael on the podcast BFFs with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards: "I do not like him. He’s rude. He hates me. He has it out for me. I think he’s jealous because he’s secretly in love with Josh which is no problem but yeah he has called me ugly to my face and in front of people." She also said Michael "is a certified asshole."

Josh later clarified that Michael didn't say Nessa was "ugly," but that Josh's "taste in women was not good." Ouch.

Michael and Nessa reportedly ended their feud on good terms in November 2020, but that truce is obviously now null and void.

But wait — there's more!

Going down an Instagram rabbit hole because time is meaningless during this pandemic, I learned Michael *used* to be close with Jaden and his family. Jaden's dad, John Wilson Hossler Jr., even called Michael his "other son" in an Instagram post from August 2020. There's also a pic from June 2020 of the trio smiling together.

If you're not great with calendars, those pics were posted less than a year ago. Now, Michael seems to hate John's son's guts, tweeting that Jaden "is a scummy piece of sh*t who only deserves he’ll [sic]." Talk about doing a complete 180.

Now, I'm not one to wake up and choose violence (unless you badmouth Law & Order: SVU, then you've released the Kraken and all bets are off), but I can appreciate Michael standing up for his friend and letting him — and everyone else on the internet, really — know he has his back during this hard time Josh is going through.

However, is Michael taking things too far, especially because Josh wanted to "handle this offline?" If Josh wants the matter settled privately, maybe starting a crusade on social media, stirring the pot, and causing even more drama is not the best way to support your friend. Just a thought!

In fact, when the special episode of BFFs podcast of Josh talking about the situation (which isn't exactly keeping things "offline," but I digress) dropped, Josh said, "I love everyone for sticking up for me, but I definitely had to tell Michael, 'Bro, chill the f*ck out, dude.'"

This new feud is only getting started (July 6 came early this year!), so get ready for more tea to spill like it's a 21st century Boston Tea Party.

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