Man recalls horrors of joining cult, being called “sassy slave” and forced to partake in gay sex acts

A former member of an social media cult is speaking out about his terrifying experiences in a new report published on Medium.

Matthew, who requested to use only his first name, was an aspiring aspiring young musician when he was first approached in 2013 by leaders of what would later become known as the DayLife Army.

The cult was formed by KoA Malone and Eben “Wiz-EL” Carlson, who found 18-year-old Matthew on Twitter and promised to help launch his singing career if he joined their newly formed religion, Tumble.

Little did Matthew know, joining the religion would come at a huge cost, one that included participating in gay sex acts and drinking the cult leader’s bodily fluids.

Very quickly, he found himself brainwashed by the leaders, who controlled his every move. He was only allowed to eat certain foods and wear certain clothing, he couldn’t use any scented products, and he had to keep meticulously clean and well-groomed.

“I didn’t know what was ironic, what was sincere, fake or real,” Matthew recalls. “All I knew was that I was going to follow the next order and keep going at all costs.”

Over time, Tumple evolved into the DayLife Army. Matthew and the other “soldiers” would participate in “boot camps” where they would engage in bizarre rituals, usually of a sexual nature.

Medium reports:

In the months leading up to the boot camp, his conversations with Wiz-EL and KoA had begun to revolve increasingly around his sexuality. Matthew says that Wiz-EL had previously encouraged him to explore relationships with Black women, and now KoA brought up the possibility that he might be interested in men — gently at first. “They didn’t say that I was gay flat-out,” Matthew says. “They were like, ‘You have some stuff around men that you should figure out.’”

Over time, they pushed him harder about his sexuality. About a week before he came to the cabin, Matthew says KoA called him with a question: “Do you like black c*ck?”

Matthew, who identifies as straight but says he “wasn’t necessarily opposed to the idea of experimenting with men,” was then given an assignment: Hook up with a Black man. Desperate to please cult leaders, he met a guy on Tinder and “completed the directive.”

At boot camp, Matthew was given the nickname “Sassy Slave” and was forced to keep a log of all the times he masturbated, and he was forbidden from watching any straight porn. Once a week, he was required to give “weekly presentations” on his “masturbation sessions” to the group.

At one point, Wiz-El convinced him drink orange juice that he had mixed with his own semen.

Medium reports:

The practice, which has its precedents in early Christianity and modern esoteric religion, includes masturbating, collecting one’s semen — or “whyte stone” — in a cup, mixing it with water, and consuming its contents. Sources with past ties to the organization say this ritual, along with the idea of combining semen with menstrual blood to create an even more powerful elixir called “The Alchemical Philosopher’s Stone,” would become one of the core tenets of the organization they would build.

By 2018, Matthew suffered a mental breakdown. He met a guy on Grindr, who agreed to let him stay at his apartment, before finally working up the courage to leave DayLife Army.

Afterwards, Matthew moved back in with his parents and started working with therapists who specialized in cult recovery.

“It hurt–especially because the initial thing that was tapped into was, ‘You’re going to be this legendary artist,'” Matthew says, reflecting on his dashed teenage dream of being a singer.

Two years later, he’s still rebuilding his life. Earlier this month, he launched an Instagram page where he answers questions from people about DayLife Army and shares photos from inside the cult.

Looking back, Matthew says he has nothing but regrets.

“Everyone that I walked around to with my enthusiasm and excitement that we could do something new,” he says, “I was just dragging all these people into an abusive structure that some of them are still in to this day.”

Related: Former cult member accused of breaking into home of ex-gay leader