On March 31, an 18-year-old creator who goes by the TikTok handle Swhileyy — pronounced “Swiley” — ran into the lobby of the Church of Scientology building in Hollywood, laughing as an employee asked him to leave.
He reached the hall, then descended the stairs, ducked under a woman’s arm and rushed through the exit. The whole thing took less than a minute.
The clip exploded. Sweili says that the video received nearly 90 million views on his private accounts during the past month. With reactions and reposts, the total number is estimated to be “in the hundreds of millions.”
A little less than a month later, the “Scientology run,” commonly known among the creative community as the “Deep Run,” had morphed into something — he says, into something he no longer recognised. This trend is currently being investigated by the LAPD.
“I do not condone what I did, even though I did not break any laws,” Al-Suwaili says. Hollywood Reporter. “All I did was explore the building. I was never told not to return to the building.”
Swilley, who asked that his legal name be withheld, grew up in California; However, it is not Los Angeles, and no county is mentioned. He came to Los Angeles last year to hang out with friends, wearing a pair of Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, and photographed a homeless man who appeared to be on drugs talking to himself.
He says his first Instagram post had 50 million views. “From that point on, I was like, ‘Hey, I kind of want to keep up with the content,'” he says.
What followed was a series of street interview videos, focusing first on the homeless population around Skid Row, and then on Hollywood performers and personalities.
He says he paid the subjects of his videos and used a share of the ad revenue to buy meals, sometimes organizing group get-togethers where he and other creators would feed as many as 100 people at a time.
“I felt like I could do some good with the money I was making,” he says.
Scientology’s turn began one afternoon last year when Swalley walked past the church’s Hollywood compound and met a Los Angeles streetwalker — a prolific critic of the organization.
“He told me the whole story about Scientology, what it’s about, that they’re a cult, and this and that,” Swilley said. “I thought it was funny.”
Swhileyyy walked into the International Church of Scientology building on Hollywood Blvd. Wearing his Ray-Ban, he filmed an employee selling him a book and then left.
This video also went viral.
“From that moment on, I pretty much knew that Scientology was a free gateway to a lot of viewpoints,” he says.
One of his fellow creators — Alex, who posts as isdurpyy on TikTok and who ran the first solo version of the game — asked Swhileyyy to do a second round with him. It was this collaboration, filmed on March 31, that broke containment.
In the weeks that followed, at least one group of teenagers attempted to repeat this, with a completely different execution, according to Swilley’s account.
“They went through there with five people,” he says. “They broke down the door, or someone ran out of there and opened it for them, the side door. They were all wearing masks or towels over their faces. They had air horns. They ran through making a crazy noise.” [I heard] They’ve actually driven Scientology into the ground, which is crazy to me. “This is assault.”
Another copycat incident, in Clearwater, Florida — a city that serves as Scientology’s spiritual headquarters — involved a teenager who shot out the window of a local church with a BB gun and was arrested.
“Never in any video or in any comment section or anywhere have I promoted the idea of running there or breaking my own record,” Swilley says.
He says other creators have sent him letters asking to collaborate on Scientology shows, and he has turned them all down. “Anybody text me, it’s not a smart idea.”
And he doesn’t pull any punches at the copycats: “What they did was, as I put it, ‘fucking retarded.’ They shouldn’t have done that shit.”
When asked if he had consulted a lawyer, Al-Suwaili said no.
“This is just my own knowledge. I mean this was a one-off video and it went viral,” he says, adding that he has not been contacted by the Church of Scientology or the police.
He says he realizes the church is notoriously litigious.
“Unless they have a letter being mailed now,” he adds. “I didn’t really do anything. I was always polite to them.”
He’s also careful to distinguish himself, tonally, from creators who portray the same artifice as activity.
“I didn’t do this at all to confront them or anything, even though that’s what it seems like,” he says. “Not once did I say it was a cult or an outing or anything like the way other people do it.”
Swhileyyy recently turned 18 (“Unfortunately,” he jokes. “I’m getting old too fast, man”). He says he’s open to acting or influencer work if offers come his way, but he’s not pursuing a career in Hollywood: “It’s not very realistic for me. There are other things I could be spending my time on to get a better return on investment.”
The Church of Scientology did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
