Just weeks after launching a new gay dating app billed as "social-first" and "anti-algorithm," Derek Chadwick has revealed he quit Goose last week over a conflict of "vision for where this should go and the direction the company is going."
What isn't known is whether his decision was in any way fueled by a report the app was using AI to trick gay men with fake potential dates.
Chadwick, 31, is the beefy out gay model and actor best known for Scream Queens, his clean beauty brand Chaddy, and his spectacular muscle-centric selfies, savored by his 1.6 million followers on Instagram. Goose was his latest project, billed as an alternative to Grindr.
He posted his surprising announcement Tuesday night on that personal account, but as of press time, there's nothing on the official Goose account about his exit.
"Some personal news. As of last week, I’ve stepped away from Goose," Chadwick wrote. "This was not a decision I made lightly. Building something for our community has been one of the most meaningful things I've gotten to do, and I'm proud to have helped push that forward. Tens of thousands of you showed up in a matter of weeks. That was you, not me, and I'll never not be grateful for it."
Chadwick's departure hit Instagram five hours after Goose shared a new video of young gay men talking about why they liked the app at an event held last Friday at the Akbar gay bar in Los Angeles. Although a representative for Goose did not respond to inquiries about Chadwick by press time, the founder himself gave a cryptic explanation in his post Tuesday night.
"Where I landed is that my vision for where this should go and the direction the company is going aren't the same thing anymore," he wrote. "When my name and my face are on something, I want to be able to stand behind all of it, fully. As that stopped being true, staying didn't feel right."
This news comes six weeks after an explosive investigation found many Goose accounts and related social media users don't appear to be real, as reported by Out.
WIRED found that many of the faces used to promote Goose were linked to low-usage accounts with abnormal follower-to-following ratios. Moreover, some appeared to be connected to Instagram accounts likely generated by artificial intelligence.
The site even discovered an account tied to Goose co-founder David Aliagas advertising "ambassador" positions on Instagram and offering money for "finstas," or fake Instagram accounts. Reporters at WIRED also spoke to several gay men who interacted through Instagram with apparently AI-generated accounts that encouraged them to sign up for Goose.
Chadwick did not respond to inquiries by Out as of press time. He did say in his post that he still supports those he leaves behind.
"Although I'm no longer involved with Goose in any capacity, I wish the team the best – there are great people over there working incredibly hard to make Goose special," Chadwick concluded. "To everyone who joined, who waved, who sent me a message, who told me they actually made a friend on there, thank you. That was always the whole point for me, and it still is. I’m not done building for us. More soon."
Goose peaked at No. 4 in the free Lifestyle apps category on the Apple App Store shortly after its launch, but it has since dropped to No. 66 in the same category, with 4.5 stars from over 1,500 ratings. The app has accumulated more than 5K downloads on the Google PlayStore and holds a 3.9-star rating in the Lifestyle category.
