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The 22-year-old TikTok star fired by Sherwin-Williams after his paint-mixing videos went viral got a new job

Nov 25, 2020, 05:29 IST
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Tony Piloseno said he lost his job at Sherwin-Williams for his TikTok videos, but he's recently accepted a new job in Florida.@tonesterpaints/Instagram
  • Tony Piloseno, 22, lost his job at a Sherwin-Williams store after his paint-mixing videos became popular on TikTok.
  • Piloseno announced on Tuesday that he accepted a full-time job at a Florida-based paint company.
  • Piloseno told The Athens News that he made his TikTok videos because he "loved the process of paint — everything about paint basically."
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The Ohio college student whose viral paint-mixing TikToks led to his firing from Sherwin-Williams has accepted a job at a paint store in Florida.

Tony Piloseno, a 22-year-old Ohio University student, has amassed 1.4 million followers on TikTok with his account @tonesterpaints, making soothing videos of crafting paint hues using different pre-existing colors. In many videos, Piloseno surprises viewers with a final "mystery color," or creates colors requested from followers.

Piloseno revealed in a November 11 TikTok video that he was fired from his part-time job as a paint-mixer at a Sherwin-Williams store in Athens, Ohio, in July. The video has 6.5 million likes.

Piloseno said in the video that he had tried to show a presentation about the power of social media to the paint company's marketing team, but he was unable to interest the corporate team. Piloseno then started purchasing his own paints to make his videos, but the company fired him because customers called in with complaints, Piloseno said. (One video showed him mixing blueberries with paint.)

"We take all complaints seriously and thoroughly investigated the customer's concerns," a Sherwin-Williams representative told BuzzFeed News.

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But Piloseno, an Ohio University student, announced on social media on Tuesday that he was moving to Florida for a new full-time job with Florida Paints. "None of this would be possible if It weren't for you guys," he said in an Instagram caption.

Piloseno, who told The Athens News that he "loved the process of paint — everything about paint basically," has also raised $2,465 on GoFundMe.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Piloseno, 22, said he chose the Florida-based company over "major paint companies" including Benjamin Moore and Behr.

"I talked to a bunch of people from a bunch of companies, but Don Strube, the co-owner of Florida Paints, he really connected with me when he called me and talked about his passion for paint," Piloseno told BuzzFeed News. "I found that very special."

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