Devastation turns to relief after TikTok account restored for Grantham’s Mr Bean

Updated: TikTok has made a U-turn on a ban for a Grantham man who is a well-known Mr Bean impersonator.

As reported earlier today (Wednesday), Grantham's own Mr Bean Lewis John was banned by the social media platform after it claimed his account, BeanReborn, violated its new community guidelines.

Just hours after the Journal requested a comment from TikTok, the account has been reinstated and a statement issued.

TikTok said the account was “wrongly removed” for violating its guidelines and has now been restored.

Lewis said he was “thrilled” to find out his account was restored.

He added: “Overall incredibly happy that Grantham's Mr Bean is back again.”

12.00pm: A TikTok impersonator with over one million followers has been banned by the platform following new guidelines.

BeanReborn, also known as Lewis John, found out yesterday (June 20) that his account on TikTok has been banned as his account “violates” the platform’s new community guidelines.

Mr John, who impersonates Rowan Atkinson’s famous Mr Bean character, is “absolutely devastated” that his account has been banned.

His TikTok account has reached a following of 1.1 million over the last four years.

He added: “When I went to log into my TikTok account, I was greeted with the notification ‘banned due to impersonation violation’.

“I was absolutely distraught. TikTok was once all about expressing talent.”

In March 2023, TikTok updated its community guidelines, after it announced it would be doing so in January of this year.

Under its guidelines concerning Spam and Deceptive Account Behaviours, it states:

Impersonation, including:

• Accounts that pose as another real person or entity, such as using someone’s name, biographical details, content, or image without disclosing it.
• Presenting as a person or entity that does not exist (a fake persona) with a demonstrated intent to mislead others on the platform.

Mr John appealed this decision to TikTok and in an email response that the Journal has seen, it said: “We have reviewed your appeal. It was determined that your account has violated our community guidelines and cannot be restored.

“We ask that all users follow our community guidelines to help us maintain a safe, respectful TikTok community.”

Mr John is still able to impersonate the character he has “grown up with” on his YouTube channel under the same name of BeanReborn.

However, it was TikTok that saw his following grow and “take off”, said Mr John.

He added: “It’s like my wife Sarah said, things happen for a reason and she thinks it’s a blessing in disguise.

“I have BeanReborn on other social media platforms, we are just hoping they take off like TikTok did.

“It’s absolutely devastating to have worked so hard over the last four years.

“Not only that, but I have lost all of the memories of meeting my wife for the first time as every video I posted was deleted.

“I don’t see harm expressing love for a character I have grown up with.”

TikTok have been approached for comment.