Remi Bader, a TikTok star known for her realistic clothing haul videos, claimed that during a recent trip with other influencers, a ranch wouldn't allow her to ride their horses due to her weight.
Bader, who has more than 2 million followers on TikTok, was in Montauk, New York, with other influencers on a trip organized by the company Hampton Water Wine over the weekend when she said she was turned away.
In her initial TikTok post on Saturday, Bader shared a video of the ranch, with the text over it saying "Shoutout to Deep Hollow Ranch in montauk for making me leave because I weigh over 240." The video has received over 1.5 million views. The caption reads, “I’ve rode horses before and have never had this issue." She asked them to advertise on their signs in the future.
Deep Hollow Ranch did not immediately respond to requests for comment made via phone and email.
The Ranch itself appears to have two websites, one of which is a blog it shares a link to on its Facebook page. On the blog, there is a guide to how much weight a horse can carry. The guide states “a rider should be not more than 15% of the horses’ weight.” There is also a list of options for “The Best Horse Breeds For Plus-Sized Riders.” On the Ranch's other website, there is no information on the horses or weight restrictions, just information on the services offered and background on the ranch itself.
Bader, who has been candid about her recent out-patient treatment for binge eating disorder, declined to comment further on the incident.
In a follow-up post shared on her Instagram story Sunday, Bader wrote that she’d never want to hurt a small business. But she said she was shocked by the way one of the ranch employees spoke to her, and felt compelled to share her experience.
"I posted for a reason and that's not because of me being denied to ride the horses. I get it, some places have weight requirements and I'd never want to hurt the horses, but it was the way I was spoken [to] and laughed at by the owner and the way I was treated overall," she wrote.
Bader said her negative experience was supported later by a video posted by a ranch employee, "who made very clear that they did not want me there because of my weight and that's very disappointing," she wrote on her Instagram story.
In a second TikTok post, she stitched herself reacting to a video posted by TikTok user @Broudy.Keogh, who Deep Hollow Ranch confirmed in a Facebook post is a "teenage employee."
In the video, TikTok user @Broudy.Keogh uses a derogatory term for a plus-sized person. “When you’re not a fat b---- you can ride at Deep Hollow Ranch," he says in response to one of Bader's video comments.
"Imagine this being deep hollow ranch's response to your experience," Bader wrote in response.
The original video has since been deleted.
In a statement posted to its Facebook, Deep Hollow Ranch responded to the TikTok video, saying it "in no way represents nor is aligned with the views that the owners of the ranch hold."
The ranch did not mention TikTok user @Broudy.Keogh or Bader by name, but broadly apologized to "anyone who this offended."
Hampton Water Wine, Co., which had organized a weekend of festivities for influencers, said it was “outraged” by how Bader was treated.
“We will not work with Deep Hollow Ranch again and do not condone any of the events that followed,” Jesse Bongiovi, co-founder of Hampton Water Wine, Co., said in a statement.
Hampton Water Wine declined to provide additional comment.
The ranch has since received backlash online, including on its website and Yelp page, where many commented their responses to Bader's claim.
Bader, who said that she is very public about her struggles with self-acceptance, said incidents like this make those struggles a greater challenge.
"I will never understand why my size could actually bother someone so much," she wrote in her Instagram story. "I really never [will]."
