Fetch / Axios crashing hard in React Native (but only for certain URLs)

My app is crashing hard when doing certain API calls, and I narrowed it down to this point:

• it's not an HTTP vs HTTPS thing
• I eventually used two different mock APIs, and to my suprise, one worked, the other didn't. Both are basically the same, see snippet below
• same behavior on both WIFI or cellular network
• same issue in axios instead of fetch
• the catch block is invoked with a nondescript network error, but then the app still crashes hard

Environment: Android 10 (actual device), RN 0.61.5

Both calls below just do a simple HTTP GET which results in a JSON snippet being returned. One works, the other causes a hard crash.

async foo() {
    try {

        // this endpoint CRASHES my app
        const r = await fetch("http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1");
        
        // this endpoint works just fine
        //const r = await fetch("http://echo.jsontest.com/key/value/one/two");

    } catch(e) {
        console.log("Invoked, but the app still crashes hard right after");
    }
}