{"id":4128,"date":"2021-12-08T14:28:37","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T14:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=4128"},"modified":"2021-12-08T14:28:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T14:28:41","slug":"pierre-boo-nick-champa-tiktoks-hottest-lgbtq-couple-goes-global","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=4128","title":{"rendered":"Pierre Boo & Nick Champa, TikTok\u2019s Hottest LGBTQ+ Couple, Goes Global"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When TikTok star Pierre Amaury Crespeau and his boyfriend Nick Champa get to Italy this year, they have one big goal, to do what other TikTokers before them have done: recreate a pivotal love scene from the Pixar film Luca<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re doing the dialogue between those two boys as the sound, and so people are recreating it,\u201d says Champa of the folks heading to the Italian Riviera where\u00a0Luca<\/em>\u2019s fictional town is located. \u201cI was like, \u2018We need to go do that. We have to do that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luca<\/em>, director Enrico Casarosa\u2019s animated film about a couple of young sea monsters and their adventures on the coast of Italy, is so completely evocative of the region \u2014 with a story that speaks to queer people everywhere \u2014 that you can imagine seeing this cute couple as the titular character and his new \u201cfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Crespeau and Champa, better known as Nicky Champa and Pierre Boo on TikTok, where they have 22 million followers \u2014 a lot of them LGBTQ+ youth, tween girls, and their middle-aged moms \u2014 who love their 15-30 second videos of goofy pranks, jokes, challenges, skits, and viral dances. Both men eschew gay labels; they consider themselves to be fluid in all aspects, including their sexuality. And their audience can\u2019t get enough of the unconventional, free-spirited pair who first met at a movie audition in early 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both were aspiring actors, which is why you can easily imagine them performing Luca<\/em> scenes \u2014 in Italy, France (where Boo is from), upstate New York (Champa hails from Syracuse), or any of the places this globetrotting couple loves to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re mermaids,\u201d Boo begins explaining Luca<\/em> to the uninitiated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, they\u2019re sea monsters,\u201d Champa interjects. \u201cThey live under the water, but then come out, and they turn to humans; human is their mask. So, these two monster things\u2026turn into boys in a gay relationship. It\u2019s very fluid. Like, there\u2019s no label, they don\u2019t kiss or anything. But you know that there\u2019s a deeper connection and it\u2019s just like the evolution of that relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champa and Boo, now 25 and 30 respectively, appreciate the film\u2019s symbolism \u2014 the allusion to, as Champa calls it, \u201chiding your sexuality, blending into the world. And when you\u2019re caught, you say, \u2018No, he is. I\u2019m not!\u2019 And the town that was so fearful at the end of the day\u2026[admit] they hated them so much because they were afraid of them. Then they actually embraced them. It\u2019s so touching because it\u2019s so representative of what we all have to [go through]. And the fact that it\u2019s not only a Disney movie, but it\u2019s also taking place in Italy, and it\u2019s just so romantic and gorgeous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very, very beautiful,\u201d Boo adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Boo and Champa began their social media presence a year after they met by posting about their relationship on Instagram. The response from fans was immediate and more powerful than they\u2019d anticipated. When TikTok emerged, the creators embraced the new platform\u2019s potential and produced even more forms of content. Their audience skyrocketed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when they first met, Boo, now 30, admits he was a bit guarded about starting a relationship. \u201cI was coming out of a tough break-up and after 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 heartbreaks, I lost the dream of a fairytale relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple says before getting together they were each \u201ca bit heartbroken about our relationships prior\u2026 just turning out to not be what we always wanted,\u201d but they quickly realized, \u201cWhoa, we found each other!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As much as he wanted to take things slowly with Champa, the connection couldn\u2019t be denied. \u201cI was telling you,\u201d Champa recalls, turning to Boo, who often finishes his sentences. \u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019m ready to get this going. I want to commit to each other. I want to be with you.\u2019 And he\u2019s like, \u2018Well, fine, you have to move in with me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they did, a month after they first met. They had already negotiated the intimate details of their modern relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMonogamous,\u201d Boo says. \u201cThat makes us happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very committed to each other,\u201d Champa adds. And part of that commitment is sexual exclusivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur community is a very free-spirited community, which I think is amazing and beautiful,\u201d Boo says. But, he adds, \u201cWe found happiness in creating a relationship for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not alone, obviously,\u201d Champa says. \u201cEverybody has their own wants and desires. But there is a portion of the community that does want that fairy tale [relationship]. We\u2019re not the only ones that want this, so we have to show that we have it, and it\u2019s attainable. You can have it, too. It just takes some searching, sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few couples have woven their personal and professional lives together like this duo. Although they each have their own handles, their videos are almost always the two of them together. Stans post comments threatening them if they ever dare break up. Now every move they make as a couple is scrutinized. But at first, they kept it to themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor a year, we didn\u2019t post about being in a relationship at all,\u201d Champa recalls. He says that time was \u201ca very constructive year of solidifying what we want and what we expect from each other. And once we had that, it kind of just happened naturally. The thing is, with our relationship and social media, it\u2019s funny because it\u2019s like the social media part feels so small to the relationship [overall].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s true, Boo adds. \u201cIt\u2019s a little window to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, they admit, it\u2019s sometimes hard to keep the two separate. What will they keep private, just for themselves, and what will they share? And, they admit, it\u2019s a lot of work keeping their TikTok (and YouTube) fans satisfied with fresh and interesting content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have days where we just sit, spit out ideas, and compile our funny concepts,\u201d Champa explains. \u201cWe\u2019re constantly thinking about what viewers want to see and what we\u2019re willing to reveal. We\u2019re sometimes nervous to show too much of our personal lives because you never know what will work and what will fall flat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boo was a theater actor in France (\u201cThere was always a cigarette in my mouth, and I was saying some monologue\u201d) and admits that acting is \u201csuch a passion that you always have in your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champa has been in a few indie films, and of course, the duo uses their acting chops to create the characters, Nicky and Pierre, which are based on themselves but played up for comedic value and TikTok audiences. Some skits take three straight hours of taping and retaping; videos taped in one shot are rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just creators at this point,\u201d Champa insists. \u201cWe create and this is the platform that we\u2019ve created.\u201d Though he\u2019s not fond of the term \u201cinfluencer\u201d (\u201cI don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re influencing\u2026I think it\u2019s just like we\u2019re sharing.\u201d), the couple has been sponsored by a number of larger brands, like Spotify, ASOS, and the singer Ariana Grande. Eventually, they hope to do their own clothing line, so that what they wear in videos can be bought online by fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While their fame has allowed them to buy their first home together, being TikTok stars is \u201cnot all flowers and roses,\u201d says Boo. \u201cIn the world of social media, there is a little bit of toxicity. It\u2019s just hard to navigate that because it can directly affect our relationship because our relationship is our platform, it is our brand, it is our social media. And it is not easy to navigate that being two persons\u2026putting ourselves out there in a platform where we can be compared [to others] or where we can be criticized. We take all this at heart, of course. That\u2019s a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What keeps them grounded, Champa says, is that they have a shared goal. They are chasing the same dream. \u201cI feel like there\u2019s a bond and there\u2019s a mission together\u2026my success is your success; your success is my success. We\u2019re doing this together. We\u2019re going to help each other and we\u2019re always going to have each other\u2019s back. As long as that\u2019s solidified, nothing can break\u2026that foundation of understanding what we expect and want from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The couple says they\u2019ve learned which narratives they can and can\u2019t control in Hollywood, including plastic surgery rumors. In a discussion about fillers, Champa outlines the importance of healthy living but says if eating right, working out, and staying hydrated doesn\u2019t solve a perceived problem, it\u2019s OK to address it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe talk about this with our friends\u2026 filler and Botox and whatever you want to do does not fix anything. It helps you be the best version of yourself if that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for. We\u2019re not trying to say, \u2018You need this to look beautiful.\u2019 No. It\u2019s what we did for ourselves to make us feel happy. We own it, and we don\u2019t really feel like we owe you an explanation for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, as role models, Champa says they feel a responsibility to be transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Boo interjects, \u201cIf you want to get an earring, you don\u2019t have to explain it to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis next-generation, Gen Z, it is so different from what I feel like we were used to watching,\u201d Champa says. \u201cIt\u2019s this open book. Do whatever the hell you want to do to make you feel happy. And, you know, obviously, there are standards\u2026and you have to navigate that correctly. But at the end of the day, if it\u2019s what you want to do, do it. If it doesn\u2019t hurt anybody, do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champa adds, \u201cWe do our maintenance, but I think if you\u2019re genuinely happy and you\u2019re feeling happiness and feeling love that really shows through on your physical appearance. A lot of people are like, \u2018Why are you glowing today?\u2019 I feel like we\u2019re both just very much high on life. Happiness really goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next step is one full of adventure: a longer-form YouTube series and, hopefully someday, \u201csome sort of Netflix series or show that is kind of semi-scripted, like Broad City<\/em>, but with two guys in a relationship\u2026still acting, but we\u2019re playing ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their new web series (on their Nicky and Pierre YouTube channel) will feature 15 videos, following them to Europe and presenting a life that has them shuttling between California, New York, Paris, and other parts of Europe (pre-pandemic).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Boo says the series will introduce viewers to their life together as well as their families, and what Champa calls \u201ctrying to embrace the international [aspect] of our relationship. His family\u2019s in Paris, mine\u2019s in upstate New York. We live in L.A. This is how we live our lives. We also have roots in Europe and we want to embrace that more, and I want him to be more connected to his family and I want them to be more a part of this whole world that we\u2019re building along with my mom. Like the Brady Bunch<\/em> but instead of revolving around a guy and a girl, it\u2019s two guys with families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of their favorite places are in Italy as well, like Venice, says Champa. \u201cWe honestly really enjoy the cities that are kind of more low-key and romantic rather than like the big party cities. We\u2019re going to go back to Lake Como, Portofino, Montserrat. The Italian Riviera we really enjoy. We love Switzerland \u2014 Pierre\u2019s family\u2019s country home is like two hours away from the border of Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champa recently found out that his mother\u2019s family is 100 percent Italian. \u201cMy great-great-grandfather on my mom\u2019s side falls under this clause where he came to the United States and had children before he declared his residency, which basically means that all of the descendants are qualified for Italian citizenship. So, I qualify.\u201d He\u2019s in the process of getting that formalized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Their union has roots in France, Italy, and the United States, where they\u2019ve fallen for California as well as the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the desert of Joshua Tree National Park, and Big Sky, Montana, where they spent a pandemic Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe rented a house in the middle of nowhere,\u201d Champa recalls. \u201cIt was really, really beautiful and amazing. We didn\u2019t think about how scary it would be in the middle of nowhere. So that was scary but other than that Montana is gorgeous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boo and Champa see TikTok as the perfect platform for travel content that speaks to Gen Z, a generation the creators say wants content that hasn\u2019t been filtered or carefully edited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGen Z is so open, you just, you put yourself out there,\u201d Champa says. \u201cI feel like Millennials are a bit still curated and still like putting on a face for them to filter behind. So, I think that\u2019s Instagram. And I think that travel content reflects that. I think with TikTok, you\u2019re going to get beautiful content of places\u2026I also love seeing funny shit that happens in these places and stuff that you would not see on Instagram, like the moments of, you know, someone falling into the canal in Venice. That, to me, is entertaining and makes me want to go to Venice more than seeing [a] beautiful picture that\u2019s curated and perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Boo says, \u201c[It \u2019s] really about discovering other people and cultures and knowing how to respect it\u2026while experiencing it. I think there\u2019s always the same hunger to discover the other culture and to [experience] the food and the places, the beauty, the music. But we\u2019re definitely not going to appropriate culture anymore. Gen Z is going to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champa sees TikTok having a big role in how Gen Z is changing travel. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a kid,\u201d he says, \u201cthe last thing you want to do is go to a museum. You want to go to the cool spot that the locals go to, where it seems like no tourist has been. And then you make the TikTok there, and that gets millions of views. TikTok fuels this new age of discovering new places, and new intimate spots that no one has gone to. And finding and making new places cool, and like making new places relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes back to Luca<\/em> for Champa. The couple hadn\u2019t planned to go to the Italian Riviera until he kept seeing so many people recreating the movie there. \u201cAnd because I cried my eyes out in that movie, it was just so amazing \u2014 I\u2019m going to tear up right now \u2014 it was just so amazing. I was like, \u2018We need to go do that. That is so beautiful. I feel like we could do that too.\u2019 And I\u2019m just one person seeing those TikTok videos that just inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The couple is very aware of how they are inspiring others, and empowering LGBTQ+ youth is a central concern. They get letters from queer kids asking to be adopted, letters so sweet but sometimes heartbreaking too; kids who share stories of difficult home lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Older generations aren\u2019t always as kind. \u201cMy theory is we trigger that feeling of something they may have missed out on,\u201d Champa says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like the generation before we went through so much trauma and so much fear,\u201d Boo says, alluding to the AIDS crisis, LGBTQ+ discrimination, and internalized homophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champa\u2019s aunt is gay. He says she and her friends never talked about their sexual orientations, while he and his boyfriend are now making a career out of theirs. \u201cI feel like there is a generational [difficulty] understanding each other. I\u2019m like, \u2018Why are you not more like this?\u2019 And she\u2019s like, \u2018Why are you more not like that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young men say they understand the pressure to keep one\u2019s LGBTQ+ identity under wraps. Auditioning for roles, the actors say they were often told that they weren\u2019t coding gay enough for gay roles but would have to stay closeted in the media for straight ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicky<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember at one point we were just like, \u2018Fuck this, let\u2019s just own it. I don\u2019t want to have a career where I\u2019m hiding our relationship. This is ridiculous.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asking LGBTQ+ actors to stay in the closet is \u201cvery toxic because you just have no idea what you\u2019re doing to that person\u2019s internal [psyche],\u201d Champa says. \u201cIt\u2019s what we really are trying to fight for. We don\u2019t even necessarily want to be a gay couple; we just want to be a couple. We want to just normalize love, normalize having a relationship that happens to be two guys, that both of our moms are very accepting of. We try to show that as much as possible. It\u2019s normal. You don\u2019t have to make it anything else other than this is just how life is supposed to be. You can love whoever you want. You can have a career with whatever you want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boo agrees. \u201cI feel like there are different ways to be a part of the fight. We are focusing on that side of the fight. There is still a lot of fighting to do on other fronts. This is our<\/em> focus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They aren\u2019t influencers. They\u2019re storytellers, activists in their own rights, showing that men loving each other is not just normal, but adorable, enviable. Audiences will see them as a happy, sexy, successful couple; together wherever they are on the planet that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the sky\u2019s the limit,\u201d Champa says, both of their relationship and careers and the lives of their young fans. \u201cYou can be whatever you want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When TikTok star Pierre Amaury Crespeau and his boyfriend Nick Champa get to Italy this year, they have one big goal, to do what other TikTokers before them have done: recreate a pivotal love scene from the Pixar film Luca. \u201cThey\u2019re doing the dialogue between those two boys as the sound, and so people are recreating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-todaygaystories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}