**Link to the n*de photos**

When Ayden Mekus popped up on the teen idol website, I wanted to do a profile because of his unusual name -- is he Croatian?

And because a lot of the photos on the site show him with his girlfriend sticking her tongue out. Either he's way into tongues or he likes to have her insult his fans: "I'm so much better than you, because I have him and you losers don't!"

I guess the younger generation finds that attractive. Ayden has over a million followers on TikTok and Instagram, and 14,000 on X.

There are also a lot of photos of Ayden getting romantic with this blond dude, and earlier with a black guy.

It's a clean break, suggesting a change of boyfriends, not making a new friend.

Neither is shown sticking his tongue out, but maybe that's just a girlfriend thing.

Wait -- Ayden is not Croatian. He was born in Northern California (straight code for San Francisco) and grew up on Coronado Island, where his father is the co-founder of Positive Choice Apparel (the clothes all have slogans like "Spread kindness.").

Mekus is the Anglicized version of the Southern Slavic Mikuš, "Nicholas." So maybe his ancestors came from Croatia (see my photo collection of Serbian and Croatian hunks).

Ayden got his start as a child model, dancer, youtube celebrity, and aficionado of tongues sticking out, but his two older sisters are actors, so it was inevitable that he would start auditioning.

His on-screen acting began in 2017 with a video game, and in 2018 with a lot of music videos and quirky shorts:

Chocolate Chip Cookies: A boy puts laxatives in them to prank his cranky neighbor.

To Smell the Roses: A boy steals his father's cell phone so he will "stop and smell the roses."

Utensils: Everyone at the dinner table is eating soup with a fork.

The Lilac Thief: No plot synopsis available, the film itself is stuck behind a paywall, but the cast list includes SWAT team members and "warrior youth." So time travel?

Then came a lot of reality shows with internet celebrities: 14 episodes with Piper Rokelle, 16 with Friendzy Friday, 41 with ClaireRockSmith, 2 with Sawyer Sharbino, plus his own Ayden Mekus.

And some fictional series:

13 episodes of P.S. Positive Stories, about people making "positive change."

One episodes of Sister Rules, about sisters who "finally decide to put family first."

73 of Dhar Mann's "uplifting" clickbait videos:

"Dad rejects stepson, then learns shocking truth,"

"This poor kid can't buy school lunch, the end will shock you,"

"Kid gets humiliated playing ball, what happens next will shock you,"

More after the break.

Ok, I'm getting the idea: a lot of Evangelical messages, which means no gay characters. And Ayden's Instagram has some fundamentalist rhetoric.

"Right is right, even if no one else is doing it."

"Jesus is king."

"Jesus loves you."

This usually spells homophobia. But Ayden is wearing a Keith Haring t-shirt. Mixed signals buddy.

There are two adult photos on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends, taken after he turned 18 in 2023, but I'm not sure they are actually him. Evangelicals forbid that sort of thing for a purpose other than making a baby, so self-activity is a sin. Not as bad as being gay, but still wrong.

Ayden posts a long series of photos about what happens when you "give in" to your desires: you get jealous, you treat your girlfriend as a sexual object, and so on. Advice: "Turn away from it and prepare for the girl of your dreams."