Jackie Aina got on YouTube to give her version of Jordyn Woods' Red Table Talk makeup, but it certainly didn't stop there. She has been keeping up with all the drama and has a few thoughts of her own, as she usually does.
Not looking to gossip about what's happened, Aina reflects on things we can all learn from the situation. She said the Kardashians couldn't be as close to Woods as they claimed if they were so willing to drag her publicly. But this also speaks to how the Kardashian/Jenners treat black people in general. The family has never been known as black allies.
Jackie Aina just re-created Jordyn Woods' makeup from her now-infamous Red Table Talk appearance.
Beauty YouTuber Aina posted a makeup tutorial for the makeup that Woods wore during her Red Table Talk interview. She said she contacted Woods to ask who did her makeup and looked a little surprised to find out that she did her own face.
But Aina also clarified that her tutorial would be about more than just makeup.
Aina wanted to focus the video on what can be learned from the scandal. She acknowledged that she's a little older than her fanbase and said her view on the whole thing might be different than theirs. She said, "There's definitely a lot of valuable life lessons I think we can all take from this situation."
She made it clear that nothing about this video was intended to bash Woods or gossip about the situation in any way. So if you're looking to see Aina spread rumors and talk trash about anyone, this is not the video for you. She does have some not-so-nice things to say about the Kardashian/Jenners, but I think she goes out of her way to say things in a constructive way that's not insulting.
She said: "You really don't need anyone to put you on."
Aina talked about how the entertainment industry can be very cliquey and how a lot of people's success depends on who they have good relationships with. JWoods has known the Kardashian/Jenner family for many years and never really had to venture too far outside of that social circle. If we remember what Jada Pinkett Smith said during their RTT, you know that Woods' late father worked on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. That's how Woods is connected to Jaden Smith, who introduced her to Kylie Jenner.
Aina said that Woods is "probably a product of her environment" when it comes to the people she chose to associate with. She said that Woods is young and she may have easily gotten caught up in a lifestyle where she felt the need to assimilate in order to be accepted by those around her.
At the end of the day, no matter how close Woods became to the Kardashians, she still wasn't one of them. Aina said that Woods' blackness could have been a big factor in why they associated with her at all.
Woods is a black woman, and we have seen time and time again how the Kardashian/Jenners feel about blackness. They use it to their advantage. They're constantly accused of Photoshopping themselves to have fuller figures. They all frequently date or are married to black men. They all have black best friends — but they are all conveniently silent when it comes time to discuss black rights and racial discrimination.
You can say that Kim Kardashian came through for Cyntoia Brown, a young black woman who was sentenced to prison after she killed a man who sexually assaulted her. I'm not saying she didn't; I'm just questioning her motives. Brown's case is not unique. Women across the country, black women especially, deal with the same kind of misfortune in the legal system. Personally, I don't think it's a stretch to believe she got involved to appear more politically invested in black women.
Aina specifically shows a clip from Khloé Kardashian's talk show to make her point.
In this clip of Kocktails With Khloé, YouTuber Jenna Marbles is a guest. She's asked to answer a randomly selected question: "What is privilege to you? Is it a victimless crime? How have you contributed?"
Everyone at the table started talking about how the topic is really serious, but what Malika Haqq, the only black woman at the table, said really stood out. She said that Marbles should just pick another question to answer.
However, Marbles, a white woman, answered the question quite well. She acknowledged the privilege that she has in being able to pick another card, and added that not acknowledging white privilege is "contributing to the problem."
Aina showed this clip as an indication to the kind of black people the Kardashians surround themselves with. Although she made it clear that she doesn't think Woods is like this, she said that the Kardashian family befriends black people who agree with their views so that they seem less racist (at least to themselves). It's easy to say that you're not racist when you have black friends who will defend you blindly.
Aina said that she feels as though many white people surround themselves with black people "who think the same way you do so that you don't seem close-minded."
White people have been using black people to seem "not racist" for a long time. This isn't a new concept.
This isn't to say that any white person who has a friend from a minority group is using them. I'm just saying that this is the case for many white people who don't have honest motives. Think of all the TV shows airing now that have just one character who's a part of some "other" category. There's either one gay or black or Asian person surrounded by straight and white protagonists.
The fashion industry is also at fault. Supermodel Naomi Campbell posted a photo on Instagram of the Vogue editorial staff in 2017. It looks like everyone in the shot is white, and Campbell said she's "looking forward to an inclusive and diverse staff."
Aina also talked about her own experience of (almost) working with the Kardashians.
Aina said she was one of the first YouTubers to review KKW Beauty when it first launched in 2017. She was invited to the brand's launch party at the Kardashian-West home, and while her review wasn't 100% positive, she didn't trash the brand like she could've.
Aina said they must have been filming Keeping Up With the Kardashians at the time because she had been asked to sign a release form. She guessed that they tried to get in contact with her because she was inadvertently featured in one or more scenes she wasn't informed of.
On top of that, Aina was the only influencer guest Kim failed to tag on Instagram when photos of the KKW event surfaced. Aina called Kim a "racist apologist," and that's when things changed for good.
After attending that first event and giving KKW's products a negative review, she was removed entirely from the brand's PR list. Her expected appearance on KUWTK never aired after that.
Aina questioned how close the Kardashians really were to Woods, given how quick they were to publicly cut her out of their lives.
Khloé, Kim, and friends taunted Woods across social media platforms to their millions of followers once the news of the scandal broke. This is before Woods did her tell-all interview, so there's no way that anyone can say that they were retaliating against Woods after she "lied" on Facebook.
Moral of the story: "Having a black friend doesn't mean you're here for black people."
Aina said that she saw this whole thing with Woods play out the same way with Blac Chyna. She said that it seems the Kardashians tried to spin media coverage to get sympathy. "I think they just thought that, you know, they would get the story out to certain media outlets and everyone would side with them and victimize them and just kick (Woods) to the curb like she was just some broke, homeless nobody," Aina revealed.
