Open letter from Alexa Nikolas’ alleged stalker “WILL”

 I was sent this today, and I am posting it, but I will leave it up to you you to check out the details.

To whom it may concern,

On January 23rd, Alexa Nikolas ("Zoey 101") tweeted this, claiming she has a stalker and is afraid for her life. Over 71,000 people liked the tweet. It’s gained nearly 10,000 reposts and over 4.7 million views. On Instagram, her posts describing the alleged "stalking" have gained thousands of likes as well. I've been informed that I am the alleged stalker, "WILL." That's the pseudonym she gave me in her recent posts containing false/warped claims. Although she used a pseudonym, some of her posts contain text messages that reveal my real name.

My real name is Shift Hailey-McMurray. There were enough identifying details for many people to recognize her posts were about me, and contact me about it within hours. I’ve also been informed by mutual acquaintances that she is telling people I’m “WILL.” Although the pseudonym she chose for me was apparently derived from the villain of a book we had recently read together in a book club, William is also the name of my deceased father who Alexa and I had talked about several times, and she had seen tattooed on my arm when I was a guest in her home for 5 days.

I have never stalked, harassed, or abused Alexa in any way, shape or form, and I can prove it. The "receipts" she posted on Instagram do not show any evidence of stalking, obsession, or threats. I'm not a threat to anyone but unapologetic abusers. I'm actually a whistle-blower that she is seeking to discredit using horrifying alarmist defamation, triggering survivors who look to her "activist" platform for hope and inspiration. 

Over the past six months, she has garnered a lot of media attention for her involvement in the protest group "Eat Predators." The short story is that Alexa has fabricated a narrative of false and criminal accusations to attack me for producing an episode hosting two former members of Eat Predators' leadership on my podcast, 'Good Morning Mayberry.' They describe her mistreating survivors while co-opting the original activist collective after their Nickelodeon protest generated a lot of press. I also shared my experience feeling exploited by Alexa after making a verbal agreement to work for her, under the impression that I would be compensated. She never paid me for my labor and 'ghosted' me after I tried to gently discuss my concerns.

After I released the podcast, she began a smear campaign. Then, someone I don't know launched a website that claims to have evidence of criminal and unethical behavior involving Alexa, dating back many years before I’d even heard of her. I became aware of this website after a source alerted me to it and a Twitter account dedicated to exposing Alexa's past behavior started tweeting about her regularly for the last week, since her smear campaign began. The Twitter account appears to be run by the same person who set up the website. I’ve also been contacted by other people who have claims that they and people they know have been harmed by Alexa in similar and bizarre ways, dating back to her youth and involving behaviors like cyber crime, sex crime, harassment, enlisting underlings, targeting these people’s loved ones, manipulating young people, physical stalking and trespassing, filing false police reports, and strategically weaponized false accusations.

In her defamatory posts about me, I saw comments calling for doxxing, arrest, and general lynching of the person she's weaponizing her fanbase (her Instagram following is about 265,000) to mobilize after. I've also seen many survivors who've actually been stalked, harassed, and deceived are triggered to be protective of her. As a survivor, this alarms and saddens me. People may be more attuned to her posts because it’s Stalking Awareness Month. Many of the people who have interacted with her are afraid to speak about their experiences. As a whistle-blower who has been subjected to Alexa’s warped wrath, I can understand why. She's put me in quite a dangerous position — especially as a queer person of color –- all to avoid addressing any of our grievances or attempts to privately resolve what we’d thought were relatively typical problems.

She also called me on January 27th, 5 days after posting that I was stalking her, but I missed the call and have been advised to not engage with her directly for the time being. I also no longer feel safe communicating with her.

An increasing amount of verified profiles and niche public figures are believing Alexa is in distress and showing support in her posts. On January 30th, Alexa retweeted a support tweet from Sochil Martin (who recently appeared in HBO documentary 'Unveiled' about her experience being sexually abused in a religious cult) saying, “And you have an army ready to fight with you. #BringIt.”

My social media accounts have been inundated by anonymous profiles defending Alexa, many of whom seem unwell and unclear on reality, and confused but rational people trying to make sense of what is happening and it has put me in fear for my safety. I'm reaching out to the media in hopes of clearing my name to hopefully protect myself. 

Please let me know if there's any further information you need to make a thorough assessment. I can also connect you to other survivors who may talk on or off the record to support your work sorting this shitshow out.