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Sometimes, the best way to put someone in their place when they throw out an insult or say something offensive is to throw what they said right back at them.
Not as an insult, but as a compliment, or an empowering phrase.
This is just what TikToker Chris Stanley, who goes by the handle @stanchrissss, did on a recent shopping trip to Walmart.
Chris shared his experience in a 36-second video, which has gone on to receive over 747,000 views.
Chris began the video by sharing how he overheard two teenage boys describe a shirt as "gay" in the men's clothing department at Walmart.
Only these boys were not using the term "gay" in any of its correct definitions, but as a way to insult the shirt, effectively also giving a negative connotation to being gay.
While Chris said he would normally mind his own business in situations like this, in this instance he wanted to teach the teenage boys a lesson.
This lesson began with Chris purchasing the shirt in question.
"So I walk right up to the shirt they're talking about, grab it, and stare at them."
"They're like 'what are you doing bro?'"
"And I go, oh, you said this shirt was gay, so I wanted it."
The two teenage boys then asked Chris if he was gay, to which he responded in the affirmative.
Chris expected that would make him a bigger target for the boy's homophobic antics but, as he shared in the video, he was more than ready for anything they had coming for him.
He continued:
"And they're like 'oh, so you think we're hot, don't you?'"
"And I'm like 'no, you guys don't got to worry, I'm only attracted to men.'"
As Chris hinted in the video's caption, his quick and clever comeback left the two young boys literally speechless.
"When I tell you the look on their faces."
"They had no idea what to say."
Chris ended the video with a shot of him wearing the shirt that started the whole encounter.
While one might have at least expected a form-fitting tank top, flamboyantly bright colors, or an otherwise remarkable shirt, it was a simple, navy blue, long-sleeved T-shirt.
Chris's TikTok followers applauded how he handled the two young boys homophobic behavior, with a few equating his clap-back to Hillary Duff's anti-bullying PSA.
@stanchrissss/TikTok
@stanchrissss/TikTok
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Others, however, were left stunned and perplexed that such a plain, nondescript shirt would cause such a commotion.
@stanchrissss/TikTok
@stanchrissss/TikTok
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We can only hope that those two unfortunate teenage boys will, at the very least, be more mindful of how they describe clothing, or anything, going forward.
We also can't help but wonder: if such an innocuous shirt offended them as much as it did, what on earth could they have been wearing?