AN OXFORD University student from Blackbird Leys has received over 1.4 million views on TikTok after explaining what it was like to grow up on the estate.

Alex O’Connor, 21, who grew-up on the estate and was a pupil at St Gregory The Great School, now studies at St John’s College, Oxford, and hosts his own Youtube Channel which has more than 384,000 subscribers.

The channel, called ‘CosmicSkeptic’ was started in 2016. On it Mr O’Connor criticises religious views, holds interviews withd academics, and advocates veganism.

He also has over 39,000 followers on Twitter and 25,000 on Instagram.

Most recently the young Youtuber has taken to the new online video-sharing platform TikTok, to respond to questions and myths about veganism.

After publishing a 'TikTok' video explaining why we ‘shouldn’t be abusing animals’ someone criticised him for being a "privileged, private school kid who doesn’t understand the working class".

The Leys born-and-bred lad shot to fame on the internet video site after he created a short film responding to the allegations that he was a "privately educated child" who was "offended" by the "lower class world".

Oxford Mail:

He said: “I made this response to this comment, saying: look, I grew up in Blackbird Leys, my parents were divorced, we grew up on government benefits, and I basically explained that I’ve been working class my whole life; you know at Oxford University I get a bursary. On paper, I tick all the boxes for being working class and this person had no idea.”

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The TikTok video has now received over 1.4 million views and Mr O’Connor gained over 17,000 followers.

He said: “I think because people thought it was quite funny and ironic that this person had got it so badly wrong about me, out of nowhere it just blew up and it just amazed me.”

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The Youtuber now holds talk on philosophy and ethics all over the world.

He added: “People have this impression that in order to be well-spoken you need to be privately educated or posh, but the fact is I spent a lot of time trying to convey my ideas in the best way.

Oxford Mail:

“I remember when growing up, no one around me had big academic plans. In the area I was in, and the schools I went to, people had ideas of what they wanted to do with their life – but not many people had the ambition to apply to somewhere like Oxford because it is not somewhere that is really talked about.

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“But it surprisingly easy [to get into Oxford] if you put the work in. As long as you have access to books and the internet, then you can learn anything you need to pass an examination, and you can do it yourself.”

Oxford Mail:

“When you grow up in Oxford you see students all the time and they feel like such a different type of person. It feels very distinct you are either a ‘towny’ or a ‘gowny’ – the locals don’t really interact with the students – and so you can grow up thinking that it’s this untouchable social group you would never be able to penetrate but it is surprisingly easy.”

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