TikTok star and Kickass Beef Jerky CEO Jeremy Littel chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papdatos about how one of his TikTok accounts has helped provide comfort, security, and laughter his community needs when struggling with mental health and PTSD.
Meet Jeremy Littel
With over 12.5 million combined followers, Winona resident Jeremy Littel has spent the last two years creating content on TikTok just to make his community smile along with his wife, Brittany, his two sons Anthony (10) and Dominic (7), and his daughter Brielle (4).
Littel, (43), is also the CEO and owner of Kickass Beef Jerky, a 20-year old family business that his father, Charlie launched out of a 24×24 garage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over the years, the company has continued to add globally respected companies such as NASCAR, partnering with NASCAR driver Spencer Boyd for the 2018 and 2019 seasons, where Spencer won Talladega in his #20 Chevy truck with Kickass Beef Jerky right there on the vehicle.
But in his spare time, Littel has made it his mission to help individuals online from across the world smile more and laugh relentlessly.
Littel, who’s been on the platform for 2 years, used the @littel_johnny account as a backup page, officially taking it over in 2020, recalling the one reason that kept him going, carving out a pathway to create more content specifically aimed at addressing the mental health crisis.
“I remember six months into joining TikTok, I was ready to stop making videos on my personal account. It was really slowing down and just wasn’t fun for me anymore. I would frequently receive several DMs from individuals on Instagram about how they are struggling with PTSD and/or anxiety, and how my TikTok videos have helped them a lot,” he said.
He continued, “There was one message that stuck out and changed my life (and career direction) – one individual messaged me and told me that they were going to watch 5 random videos and end their life on the fifth one. It just so happened that my video was the last one they watched and that it made them laugh so hard that they quickly realized their life was not worth ending. That message stuck with me and gave me a purpose to continue creating content, eventually using my @littel_johnny account for child-friendly humor, while my personal account @jeremy_littel was for adult viewers. I now know why I was drawn to the platform…here to bring people out of their funk and help with a smile, an encouraging word, or that belly laugh. It’s all worth it to me.”
Back in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone online, it allowed Littel to give users insight and look into his and his son’s world, while simultaneously getting to know those who were willing to sit back and laugh – in this case, following the character of “Little Johnny” as he comically shares stories with his Dad on how he has made the classroom more “enjoyable” and “educational” for his classmates (and teacher).
“This is a place where I can connect with my own family and give everyone a glimpse of who we are,” he added.
He continued that “these accounts are part of who I am as a creator and TikTok has been an instrumental part of being able to help others through their own darkness, including my own.”
If you’re new to the @littel_johnny account, you can expect an unlimited supply of cheesy, corny, and downright hilarious interactions between Littel and his younger son, where he comes into a room greeting his dad and asking him to “guess what happened at school today,” – of course, putting Littel in the uncomfortable position as a father of “oh god, what did you do now” anticipation.
