Piper Rockelle in Netflix’s docuseries ‘Bad Influence.’. Photo:
Netflix
Piper Rockelle is hinting at her less-than-positive response to Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing.
Netflix’s new docuseries features Rockelle’s former teen collaborators and exposes the alleged toxic environment created by her mother, Tiffany Smith, and Smith’s boyfriend, Hunter Hill. The exposé extrapolates on the complaint 11 underage content creators filed against Smith in 2022, which accused her of “emotional, verbal, physical, and at times, sexual abuse” when they were active in Rockelle’s viral group of friends known as the “Squad.”
The resulting child abuse lawsuit was settled in October 2024, with the 11 teens receiving $1.85 million. (All parties specifically disclaimed any liability.) Netflix’s three-part deep-dive offered the ex-Squad members and their parents another way to speak about their experiences working with Smith. Rockelle, Smith and Hill all declined to provide a response or comment for the docuseries.
In the weeks since the show premiered on April 9, Rockelle, 17, has shared some cryptic social media posts alluding to her disapproval. In a video from last week, she lip-synced to lyrics from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” — “I don’t wanna be friends,” she mouthed — alongside text that read, “Will you still be my friend if I watch the doc?”
“No hate all love,” the teen influencer captioned the clip. In another post, she partnered with the AI “friend” app Tolan to talk about people spreading rumors, which saw Rockelle seeking advice from the automated cartoon.
“This rumor unfortunately has kind of hurt my lifestyle in a lot of ways, but I’ve just kept going as much as I possibly can,” she explained.
Rockelle also filmed herself listening to Sydney Rose’s trending hit “We Hug Now” and reflected on the song’s meaning. “[Of course] this song is [about] a big friend group breaking up,” she wrote, seemingly alluding to her fallout with the kids formerly in her Squad.
Piper Rockelle (right) and ex-Squad member Sophie Fergi in Netflix’s ‘Bad Influence.’. Netflix
Shortly before Bad Influence premiered, Smith issued a statement to PEOPLE responding to some of the bombshell claims made in the series.
“This whole experience — from the claims and power plays from the stage moms to, now, the Netflix reality show — has been the most upsetting and difficult experience of my life,” she said on April 8. “And it’s been even harder for my daughter, Piper, who’s become collateral damage in a mess of adults behaving badly.”
Smith continued to reference the lawsuit settled last fall. “The reason the investigation cleared us — and declared the allegations unfounded — is because it was crazy people making even crazier accusations. I guess that makes for a good Netflix reality show,” her statement continued, referring to the docuseries.
Piper Rockelle and her Squad pictured in Netflix’s docuseries ‘Bad Influence.’. Netflix
She added that it’s “unfair to Piper, who didn’t do anything wrong and now struggles with her mental health because of all the unfair scrutiny and negative attention.”
Her statement to PEOPLE concluded, “I do believe Piper will want justice one day—and see that the truth is finally shared. But in the meantime, shame on Netflix for perpetuating a knowingly false narrative that puts kids in danger. I truly can’t wait for this to all be behind us.”
