Figure if Black folks had to pinpoint a Public Enemy #1 from Valentine’s Day until now, it would be “Legion,” the antagonist of the “Who TF Did I Marry” TikTok saga by Reesa Teesa that ate up everyone’s week.
Let Teesa tell it, Legion lied about jobs, legal documents, dead relatives, exes and pretty much everything under every son in any solar system following their January 2021 marriage. Dude even has a twin brother whose life he allegedly co-opted as his own!
If everything Teesa said is true, the good folks at Lifetime and Tyler Perry studios are probably cage fighting over the rights to the television miniseries adaptation as I type.
Considering how many people – especially Black women – are calling for this man’s head, it only stands to reason that the internet super-sleuths would figure out who “Legion” is: A TikTok user named Danni H tracked down his identity, posting the Facebook account of Jerome “JC” McCoy. (Reesa Teesa’s real name is Teresa McCoy).
Because TikTok apparently doesn’t have a lot of protections against this, there are many accounts pretending to be either McCoy, so it’s a bit hard to make out what’s what. But one video of what appears to be the actual Jerome McCoy is doing the rounds; if Teesa nailed down this man’s character over eight-plus hours of video, figure there’s no surprise that he starts his response with “she straight lyin to y’all.”
“We went to marriage counseling, didn’t work, and we broke up,” he says in the video. “But all my message to her is please stop lying to these people and tell them the real reason I left you. You cheated. I caught you in the house with Bradley.”
Teesa has responded to her ex-husband’s outing, imploring people not to interact with McCoy because he’s “not well and ” the engagement can turn antagonizing.” Many have criticized Danni H’s leak because of potential collateral damage to innocent folks.
However, LaToya Averett – the woman Teesa claims she didn’t know was McCoy’s first wife – chose not to be collateral damage and came forth with a TikTok of her side of the story. Averett appears to corroborate Teesa’s story, stating that Legi – err, Jerome “literally tried to ruin my life.”
“I, too…fell for the trap over 10 years ago,” Averett said. “Yes, he was charming and I was broken mentally. Understand, self-love was not here at all for me to love myself to understand that this is not love.”
Of course, this whole saga – of which I’ve only scratched the surface above – has prompted countless responses from other TikTok users, as well as attempts to unearth as much information on Jerome McCoy (or “Jerome McCoy” as it were) as possible.
The whole “Who TF Did I Marry” affair feels “The Tinder Swindler”-esque. Ladies, I implore you to get your Googles and background checks tight before you, too, wind up with a Legion.