Vine Celebrity Couple's Relationship Ends with Rape Allegation

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Curtis Lepore and Jessi Smiles were the first celebrity couple of Vine, the micro-video blogging site. Their short-lived relationship was loved by millions, but recently ended with a serious rape allegation.

According to Esquire, the two comedic Vine stars flirted with each other and fell for each other, as millions of followers watched their exchanges on Vine, Twitter and Instagram. The two video-chatted, then exchanged numbers. They decided to finally meet in person in Washington Square Park in New York City this past summer, and invited their entire Internet fan base to come along.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of followers showed up to watch the pair finally kiss. Fans made Vines and took Instagram photos of the occasion.

However, there is a major disclaimer about their relationship: many Vine relationships are not organic, and are created by Collab, a production company that works on creating Internet stars. While they may have genuinely liked each other, it was partially manufactured.

On the day social media's first celebrity couple met, Curtis reached a million followers, and now had 3.4 million, making him the ninth-most followed person on Vine. Three days after their meeting, Jessi hit a million, and now has 2.7 million, and is ranked 13th.

They shared many Instagram photos together, and took Vines together.

However, the relationship only lasted three weeks. On August 21, Jessi tweeted that she was on her way to visit Curtis in Los Angeles. But the two broke up within days. Curtis posted a photo on Instagram of the two cuddling in bed, and wrote along with it that they are breaking it off because Jessi 'has some big life changes going on right now.'

One commenter wrote, 'I really don't understand why this ended... if she really loved you, wouldn't she want to go through those big life changes with you? I'm gonna be honest, from what I saw last night in... your live streams it is very very clear that you love jessi waaaaayyyy more tha[n] she loves you, an[d] it breaks my heart to say that but somebody has to.'

Then on August 31, Jessi concussed herself while making a Vine, so Curtis offered to come over and help her recover. That night, according to a TMZ article that cites court documents, Jessi alleges that Curtis tried to rape her in her sleep.

On September first, Jessi tweeted, 'Be careful of who you trust. Always be cautious for your safety. Be strong and don't let your guard down...'

TMZ reported that Curtis had been arrested in October and was released on $100,000 bail.

He then went to court this past Tuesday and pleaded not guilty.

Curtis--who has often requested that his followers send him barely censored photos of breasts-- shot back at TMZ for their story about the alleged rape, saying that Jessi is doing it for publicity.

'Wow. TMZ? It all makes sense now. Let the second publicity stunt begin!' he tweeted.

His followers have left him both angry and supportive comments, while many have publicly thrown their support behind Jessi.