90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days jazz and cigar aficionado Riley is getting a bit suspicious of his Vietnamese girlfriend Violet, so he considers hiring a private detective to look into her. Turnabout is fair play, so our crack team of Starcasm detectives turned their magnifying glass on Riley to see what we could find out!
We didn’t uncover any shocking arrests or secret children, but we did find some information that viewers will find interesting. After a bit of pruning, the end result is our list of five things you probably didn’t know about Riley from Before the 90 Days!
1. Riley’s name isn’t Riley
Technically, Riley’s name is Riley, but it’s not his first name. Riley’s actual name is Donnell Riley.
As some fans of the show may be aware, Riley doesn’t use his actual first name on social media either. Instead, he generally opts to use the name Jus Riley — often with an underscore.
I assume that Riley simply isn’t a fan of his first name, but it seems like a perfect fit for his personality and tastes to go by Don Riley? It has kind of a “jazz mafia” vibe.
2. Riley made comedy videos
A little more than a decade ago, Riley spent A LOT of his time filming comedy skits for YouTube. The skits are usually less than two minutes and often feature guest stars along with Riley. Here are a few examples, including a couple from his Cletus and Gene series:
In the description for the last video above, Riley seemed to suggest that the young lady is actually his daughter. “For those of you that follow my Twitter and BlogTv show you already know that my daughter had her first date a few weeks ago,” Riley wrote. “This is my worst fear lol.”
In October of 2010, Riley tweeted: “Ok Im trying to edit this video and you know what? MY DAUGHTER CAN’T ACT! I love my child but I have to make sure she stay in her books LOL.”
And here’s a Twitter exchange between Riley and @GOTjamit about his daughter from September of 2012:
I could find no evidence online that Riley actually has a daughter. I assume this was all just him joking around.
However, the lengthy Twitter exchange above is a nice segue into the next item on our list!
3. Riley dated an Asian woman named Lan
At the time Riley launched his YouTube channel, he was dating an Asian woman named Lan. Riley posted a music video in May of 2011 paying tribute to his deceased mother. Lan can be seen driving in the video as Riley raps in the passenger seat.
“Big Thanks to Lan aka Ghetto Asian for giving me a ride to see my mom,” Riley wrote in the description. “She’s my dude for real.”
In the lyrics to the song, Riley updates his mother on what all has been going on with family members — including himself. He points his thumb at Lan as he raps that he has a “new girl,” but then says something about ten years?
In addition to the video, there are older photos online of Riley and Lan together. Here are two examples from a family Thanksgiving get together:
It’s unclear if Lan is one of the two former girlfriends that Riley talks about on the show. If she is, she would have to be the first one he mentioned because the second relationship ended just a couple years ago — right before Riley started talking with Violet.
Here’s what Riley said about the earlier girlfriend:
I was in a serious relationship with someone and one day I went to her apartment and she wouldn’t open the door. I was just ringing the bell, and felt it in me there was something up. So I went straight to her bedroom and there was a guy in the closet. And I knew him. She met him through me.
It felt like a betrayal, like, on another level of hurt.
4. Riley tried to open a cigar lounge, restaurant and jazz club
In 2021, Riley attempted to turn his love of jazz and cigars into a business. His VERY ambitious plan was to purchase an abandoned 8,000-square-foot commercial property in Pocono, Pennsylvania and open Nell’s Restaurant and Cigar Lounge. (I will explain the jazz aspect a little later.)
“Support the entrepreneurial initiative of a service-connected disabled veteran wanting to build a unique place filled with heart, soul, and flavor in the Poconos, Monroe County, Pennsylvania,” reads the Kickstarter campaign description.
The campaign had a goal of $235,000.
In a nutshell, the goal is to raise $235,000 to assure that we surpass the requirements of the SBA and can open summer 2022. With our current collateral of $240,000 raised via family, friends, and cashing in of a 401K, we have already started the purchasing and architectural processes. We meet with Wells Fargo Bank on October 29th to submit all documents for final loan prep.
If you visit the Kickstarter campaign, you can watch a four-minute video narrated by Riley in which he explains what he wants to do. The video also includes a guided video tour inside the property.
Riley must have received some backlash over the “Restaurant and Cigar Lounge” concept, resulting in a name change and a very long apology from Riley on Facebook:
“I realized that I am unintentionally misrepresenting what I am trying to bring to my community. The main goal of my venture is to bring an exciting new way to enjoy great company, delicious food, and amazing music.
“I have came to realize that many people feel that I am trying to promote and capitalize from tobacco sales which is absolutely not the case. After discussing with individuals that took the time to reach out to me with their concerns it was explained to me, in many different voices, that the name I have chosen for my dream is extremely misleading, triggering, and somewhat disrespectful for many.
“My dream isn’t to open a cigar lounge but is to provide a space to share musical creativity. This whole thing is about the music, food, and socializing. The cigar lounge will not, and is not, the main point of anything I do. I actually hate cigarettes and honestly never associated enjoying a cigar with cigarettes, hookah, vaping etc.. I now realize that for many there is no difference between these things.
“Due to this new understanding of what is, and is not, socially acceptable I decided to change the name of my business to something that better describes what my dream should be projecting.
The name of my dream is now ‘Nell’s Jazz Blues & Neo Soul Restaurant’. I am currently changing all my branding and the narrative of Nell’s to better share my vision and intentions.
“I have every cent of my retirement and savings into this and I don’t want to fail because I didn’t understand how the word ‘cigar’, could negatively impact so many people that would otherwise support me.
“Thank you so very much to everyone that has reach out to me to share their concerns. I will do better, I promise.”
In November of 2021, Riley announced that the Kickstarter campaign had been shut down after his cousin, and business partner, passed away unexpectedly. “Just know that this is not the end but a regrouping until we figure out, as a family, how we’re going to move forward,” Riley wrote on Facebook.
5. Riley made short films
In addition to his comedy videos, Riley also made multiple short films. Below are a couple examples.
5IVE:THIRTY ONE (5:31)
Serial killer Mateo (Jakob Hawkins), strongly believes that people need to take responsibility for their actions and not put it off on “GOD” or chalk it up to “The Way Life Is”. Mateo is self righteous but correct with his assumptions of mankind. With this he has taken it upon himself to “Save” mankind from the self destructive path that they are on. He tries to do this by giving Ada B. Rudia (Carolina Ravassa), a young reporter, the interview of a lifetime.
Will she do the right thing our will she confirm what Mateo believes to be true?
CHRONICLES OF IT
In March of 1999 news reporter Sally Richardson and camera man John Pendant vanished. In January, 2010 a video cassette was mailed to the producer of The News At Ten. This is the raw video from that cassette.
To find out how Riley and Violet’s journey plays out, be sure to tune in for new episodes of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days airing Sunday nights at 8/7c on TLC.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
