Nerdy Artie no more.
Glee alum Kevin McHale is almost unrecognizable in his latest role for Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk‘s American Horror Story spinoff, American Horror Stories. In the fourth episode, titled “The Naughty List,” McHale plays influencer Barry, a member of the attention-seeking Bro House.
What is Bro House you ask? Well, it’s clearly inspired by influencer collectives like Jake Paul‘s Team 10 or Chase “Lil Huddy” Hudson‘s Hype House. Similar to these popular groups, each member of the Bro House—including Zinn (Nico Greetham), Wyatt (Charles Melton) and James (Dyllón Burnside)—serves a particular role.
Where Barry is the behind-the-camera tech guy, Zinn is the fame-obsessed leader willing to do whatever it takes to gain views. Now, before you start thinking you have déjà vu, McHale exclusively revealed to E! News that their AH Stories roles were “loosely” inspired by real-life influencers.
“We all did extensive research,” he said. “There wasn’t one TikToker in particular. It was just sort of watching a lot of those Sway House and this house and that house guys, and spending time watching the YouTube videos, how they interact with each other, what they do—or what they show the world that they do.”