If you’ve spent even a minute scrolling TikTok, chances are you’ve stumbled across the sharp tongues and quick wits of Mecca Evans and Jamila Bell. Together, the creators behind the podcast Unhinged and Immoral have become an unmissable duo—part pop culture savants, part social commentators, part comedians, and entirely unfiltered. Their podcast is an extension of their short-form snackable content on social media; it’s a manifesto on the freedom to be loud, imperfect, and deeply human in a digital world that often demands perfection.
The pair’s origin story reads like a screenplay, which comes as no surprise as the pair are retired theater kids: two college friends, bonded over their love of spirited debates, late-night laughs, and shared outrage at the state of the world. When the pandemic hit, their conversations—equal parts playful and provocative—were introduced on Tik Tok, where we received snippets of their personalities. Equally, they’ve amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of liked videos, just by being themselves.
Today, their witty repartee morphed into Unhinged and Immoral. “We’ve been on a steady incline,” Mecca says. “We want to plug in smaller creators. There’s this creator, Horace Gold, who really inspired me. He said, ‘If any other creators need to collaborate or help each other out, we should be there.’ Since our content is resonating, we definitely want to help other Black creators amplify their voices.” Their commitment to collaboration and community has only strengthened their raw, magnetic presence, making them key figures in the Black digital space.
On the cusp of Millennials and Gen Z, Mecca and Jamila’s voices carry a generational pull that feels both nostalgic and completely new. Their TikTok and Instagram videos have a knack for balancing humor with hard truths, attracting an audience that doesn’t just want entertainment but enlightenment—or at least something to argue about in the comments. “We have so much good intentions linking up with people. We still want to do that, and we’re going to keep doing that. It’s about creating spaces for growth, even if others don’t see it that way,” Jamila said.
And create they have. Their social media presence, coupled with Unhinged and Immoral, they’ve carved out a space that feels quintessentially theirs, a blend of theater-kid antics and razor-sharp commentary on everything from politics to celebrity scandals.
In the midst of their meteoric rise, TikTok has been a rollercoaster of support and skepticism. However, last month is when things truly came to a head. Following a spirited conversation between two other creators, the “Super 5” emerged—an online phenomenon that’s part urban legend, part meme, and completely emblematic of how misinformation can spread online. Even we got it wrong initially. Nonetheless, neither Mecca nor Jamila claim to know how they got lumped into this speculated group of creators, but they’ll admit it was a moment.
The alleged Super 5 members (which still have today never been named) were grouped together out of a brand trip, planned by another content creator, Stefannie, better known as Nosy Bystanders. “The irony of all this is that we keep saying ‘Super 5’ but they haven’t said the other names,” Mecca says. “Aubrey is his own thing. Alexus, Aisha, they are their own thing. And they’re all super funny in their own right.”
We all know the internet loves a good conspiracy. The Super 5 was never real, but the discourse? Very real. And with that discourse came scrutiny. The duo found themselves at the center of digital firestorms, including a high-profile clash with Jackie Aina. The climax? Jamila discovering she was blocked by Aina after a subtweet-esque video surfaced.
“Honestly, we were all so confused, when I watched it I felt a multitude of emotions,” Jamila explains. I was shocked because I’m like, ‘how Jackie know me?’ It’s funny because any time I go live, anytime I do anything, I’m always compared to many people, Taraji, Jussie Smollett and Tisha Campbell. Every single day. So as soon as I heard that, I said, ‘Oh.’”
To add another layer to the digital clash, Jamila and Mecca both recognized that the situation was much bigger than the two of them. Their mutual Nosy Bystander had a previous feud with Aina, which only added fuel to the fire.
“It was unfortunate. It really was because I knew immediately,” Jamila reflects. “So I was watching and I said, ‘Oh, I’m being misunderstood in everything.’”
On December 10, the ladies took to their podcast for a surprise 30-minute episode to address the viral video and the fallout that followed. The episode gave them a chance to reflect on the balance between intention and perception in online spaces. With honesty, empathy, and accountability, they offered an apology, acknowledging the impact of their words and actions, but also took the opportunity to clarify their intentions.
During the podcast episode, Jamila defends herself and quips,“How the hell would I have known I was blocked three months prior if I was blocked? You don’t get a notification when you’re blocked. I did not know that. I mean this with all respect, I don’t need to make a video claiming to be blocked by Jackie Aina to get views, I was already a large creator when this happened.”
The pair’s humor is unserious by design. The two are theater kids at heart, and have mastered the art of not taking themselves too seriously. Still, their ability to toe the line between banter and critique keeps their audience hooked. And that’s just it—Mecca and Jamila’s appeal lies in their ability to go deeper. They’re not afraid to call out dog-whistling or interrogate the coded language that pervades online spaces, particularly around colorism and privilege. But they’re also not above admitting when they’re just having fun. Their ethos: two things can be true at the same time.
“I mean, it’s Jackie Aina. She is top dog. You cannot mention influencing without mentioning her name. And I knew that people were going to take her word off face value. And I knew that that was going to be a hard task for us to overcome that. That’s why we wanted to take a beat,” Jamila explains. “That’s why I didn’t want to just respond. I wanted to firstly just have a moment to be like, oh, okay. I also wanted to be very careful with how I responded because I knew how it was going to be.”
Nonetheless, beyond the Super 5 commentary that gripped the TikTok sphere, the conversations quickly spilled onto other social media platforms, sparking a wave of dogpiling. Users were quick to label their content as trivial, gossipy, and lacking value. “I think it turned into an elitist hierarchy conversation,” Jamila reflected. “‘We only want to see people who create real content.’ I didn’t like that people were downplaying our content, making it seem like it’s not important or real.” Despite the negativity swirling, they also felt a strong wave of support from their community of fans and peers. “I really grossly underestimated my reach… I only have like 280,000 and that’s recent,” Jamila said. Mecca shared a similar sentiment saying, “This situation made me step back and realize, ‘Wait, more people have common sense than we give them credit for.’”
Amid the social media backlash, the ladies have stayed true to their commitment to creating relatable, down-to-earth content—commentary that feels like the conversations we have with friends. While they’re not focused on clearing the air further with Aina and her team, their attention is firmly on the future. They’re committed to continuing to build and nurture community in spaces that matter most to them—particularly Black ones. “I legitimately have no interest in being anything outside of black…The people who are recognizing us are the people who I want to be recognized by,” Mecca says.
As TikTok’s future hangs in the balance with talks of a ban, Mecca and Jamila are already looking ahead. Jamila’s production company, Ring a Bell Productions, hints at a larger vision, one that extends beyond podcasting. “We want to push boundaries,” Jamila says.
“We’ve really been planning this for a long time,” Mecca adds.
In the meantime, they’re focused on growing Unhinged and Immoral and continuing to encourage their followers to think critically, and make us laugh along the way. While it hasn’t been made official just yet, the ladies hinted at a tour with a few other popular comedians and podcast hosts.
Unapologetic, unfiltered, and deeply aware of their power, Mecca Evans and Jamila Bell are proving that Black creators don’t just deserve to create—they deserve to disrupt, innovate, and thrive. And for anyone still doubting their influence? Stay tuned. They’re just getting started.