How an 18-Year-Old TikToker’s Scientology “Run” Inspired a Trend — and Why He Says It’s Gone Too Far
On March 31, an 18-year-old content creator who goes by the TikTok handle Swhileyy — pronounced “Swiley” — jogged through the lobby of a Church of Scientology building in Hollywood, laughing as a staffer told him to leave.
He made it down a hallway, down a flight of stairs, ducked under a woman’s arm and pushed through an exit. The whole bit lasted under a minute.
The clip exploded. Swhileyy says the video has pulled roughly 90 million views to his own accounts over the past month; folded in with reactions and reposts, he estimates the total is “in the hundreds of millions.”
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A little under a month later, the Scientology “run,” known more generally among the creator community as “deep runs,” has hardened into a format — and, he says, into something he no longer recognizes. The trend is currently being investigated by LAPD.
“I do not condone what I did, even though I didn’t break any laws,” Swhileyy tells The Hollywood Reporter. “All I did was explore the building. I was never asked not to come back to the premises.”
Swhileyy, who asked that his legal name be withheld, grew up in California; not Los Angeles, however, and he won’t say which county. He came to L.A. last year to hang out with friends, wearing a pair of Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, and filmed a homeless man who appeared to be on drugs talking to himself.
That first Instagram post, he says, cleared 50 million views. “From there on out, I was like, ‘Hey, I kind of want to pursue content,'” he says.
What followed was a run of street-interview videos, first focused on the homeless population around Skid Row, then on performers and characters in Hollywood.
He says he paid the subjects of his videos and used a share of the ad revenue to buy meals, sometimes organizing group meetups where he and other creators fed close to 100 people at a time.
“I felt like I was able to do some good with the money I was making,” he says.
The Scientology detour began one afternoon last year when Swhileyy walked past the church’s Hollywood complex and met Streets LA — a prolific critic of the organization.
“He told me the whole story about Scientology, what they’re about, that they’re a cult, this and that,” Swhileyy said. “I thought it was funny.”
Swhileyy walked inside the Church of Scientology International building on Hollywood Blvd. wearing his Ray-Bans, filmed a staffer selling him a book and left.
That video, too, went viral.
“From there on out, I pretty much knew that Scientology was like a free gateway to a lot of views,” he says.
A fellow creator — Alex, who posts as isdurpyy on TikTok and who ran the first solo version of the stunt — asked Swhileyy to do a second run with him. That collaboration, filmed March 31, is the one that broke containment.
In the weeks since, at least one group of teens has tried to replicate the bit — with, by Swhileyy’s account, a very different execution.
“They went through there with five people,” he says. “They broke open the door, or either that or someone ran through there and opened it for them, the side door. They all had masks on or towels on their face. They had air horns. They ran through creating a crazy commotion. [I heard] they actually pushed a Scientologist to the ground, which is insane to me. That’s assault.”
Another copycat incident, in Clearwater, Florida — the town that functions as Scientology’s spiritual headquarters — involved a teenager who shot out a window of the local church with a BB gun and was arrested.
“I never once in any video or any comment section or anywhere promoted the idea of running through there or beating my record,” Swhileyy says.
He says other creators have messaged him asking to collaborate on Scientology runs, and he has turned all of them down. “Anyone who messaged me, it’s just not a smart idea.”
He does not pull his punches on the copycats: “What they did was, and in my words, quoted, ‘Fucking retarded.’ They should not have done that shit.”
Asked whether he’d consulted a lawyer, Swhileyy says no.
“This is just my own knowledge. I mean, this was a one-off video that happened to go fucking majorly viral,” he says, adding that he has not been contacted by the Church of Scientology or the police.
He says he’s aware that the church is famously litigious.
“Unless they have a note sending in the mail right now,” he adds. “I really didn’t do anything. I’ve always been polite to them.”
He is also careful to distinguish himself, tonally, from the creators who frame the same stunt as activism.
“I didn’t do this whatsoever to come out against them or anything, even though that’s kind of what it looks like,” he says. “Not once did I say it’s a cult or get out or anything like how the other people do it.”
Swhileyy recently turned 18 (“unfortunately,” he jokes. “I’m aging too fast, man”). He says he’s open to acting or influencer work if the offers land in his lap but isn’t chasing a Hollywood career: “It’s just not very realistic for me. There’s other things I could spend my time on to get a better ROI.”
The Church of Scientology did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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