Jackie Aina has been dominating the beauty YouTube scene for over 10 years now, but today she hinted that it could all come to an end sooner than we think.
The superstar influencer has announced that she may be ending her YouTube career for good, and her longtime fans are utterly DISTRAUGHT.
"If my next career endeavor really takes off I may be done with YouTube. For good," she wrote in a cryptic tweet on Tuesday.
"I’m truthfully getting less and less happy with whatever TF is going on with social media now," she continued.
"Everyone else can have it. It's just too much. Idk, I'm praying bout it."
*eyes start welling with tears*
Her post immediately sent fans on an emotional rollercoaster ride as life with Jackie's YouTube channel flashed before their eyes.
"Cries in Jackie Jackie Jackie Jackie," a fan tweeted back, in reference to Aina's signature video intro jingle.
Fans already miss Jackie Aina and she hasn't even made an official decision yet.
Sigh.
People are sad that one of the most influential YouTube voices for women of color in beauty could walk away from her channel.
"Jackie, please don't leave YT. You're doing wonders for POC," one fan asked her.
"I was in Ulta last month & my mom was asking for help finding a product that worked for her. A makeup artist told her to watch your videos because 'she's the top person who I would recommend who makes videos for us."
Aww!
Jackie's desire to cancel YouTube *might* have to do with the unfortunate experiences she's had in recent weeks. The most recent was the Soft Glam palette giveaway disaster.
"Ok, if you can guess this one…um let's see, I'll send you an ABH Soft Glam palette," Jackie Aina wrote in the initial giveaway announcement on February 28.
Jackie Aina picked a winner named Hannah, but according to Twitter DM screenshots allegedly leaked by the winner, Aina cancelled the giveaway after the winner "overdid it" by repeatedly contacting her for about the status of the prize, then accused her of hosting a "scam."
According to the screenshot, Aina agreed to send the palette and also sign it at the fan's request on March 3.
"Please can you sign the palette???" the fan requested.
"Hi my love, that's no problem but I wouldn't be able to send it to you for another week when I come back from vacation," Jackie confirmed to the fan.
"I would have to order it, send to myself, sign, then mail to you. If that's too long I can order it today and ship it right to you, whatever you prefer."
Afterwards, the fan messaged Aina several times over the next week checking on the status of the package.
According to the time stamps on the screenshots, 14 days after the initial giveaway on March 17, the fan threatened to submit an ASA (Advertising Standards Authority organization) complaint.
"Hello I'll have to submit a ASA complaint if I'm ignored," the fan wrote to Aina on Saturday, March 18.
After the fan filed the ASA complaint, she received this response from the organization.
"Thank you for your recent complaint," the response read, according to the screenshot.
"We think you have a valid point and, with a view to acting quickly, we'll instruct Jackie Aina to send you the prize and get an assurance from them that they will do this and ensure that in future promotions, prizes will be awarded and not withheld."
The fan confirmed she submitted this ASA before she officially heard back from Aina.
Jackie Aina did respond to the fan on Sunday, March 18 to inform her she planned to cancel the giveaway because she felt "extremely uncomfortable" with the back to back messages she received.
Below is Jackie Aina's response to the fan:
Hi Hannah, my apologies for the slow response. As most know, I can often be extremely slow to check. With that being said, I decided to cancel your giveaway prize as I felt extremely uncomfortable with the correspondence. Reaching out to me multiple times including my business email, which has nothing to do with giveaways (which are voluntary btw), seemed unnecessary. I understand these things can be fun and exciting, but not to this extent.
On top of that, I noticed you live in the UK and I wasn't quite sure why 3 days after the giveaway you were in a rush to know the status of your prize. I've hosted dozens of giveaways and sometimes it does take me a few weeks to send things out but people ALWAYS get their stuff. Typically in that time frame people sit back and let things flow and aren't this impatient.
Giveaways can sometimes bring out the super competitiveness in people and the moment I feel as if someone is overdoing it I back out. I've never actually not sent out a prize to someone, but this time given the reasons above, I decided I guess there's a first time for everything. Hopefully you understand.
Jackie Aina also responded to the accusations that she hosted a "scam."
"A 'scam' is when someone takes your money or does something fraudulent," she wrote to the fan.
"None of those things occurred. My giveaways also aren't based on retweets, or even gaining new followers. I literally gain nothing from them. They are meant to be fun and spontaneous. So moving forward I will definitely do things differently with giveaways. Take care and good luck."
The fan responded that she understood why Jackie Aina cancelled her giveaway prize and informed her she would remove the ASA complaint.
"Okay, I'm sorry," she wrote to Aina.
"Also, I submitted an ASA complaint before this conversation occurred. I'm trying to email them to get them to cancel it now."
Despite apologizing to Aina and offering to cancel the ASA complaint, the fan still leaked their private exchange to platforms like Reddit and Lipstick Alley, which lead to a ton of Jackie Aina slander all over social media.
Some people were really disappointed with Jackie Aina's decision to cancel the giveaway.
But Jackie Aina held fast to her decision to cancel the prize.
"Ok look, I'm really chill when it comes to giveaways but please don't be aggressive and rude about it," she wrote on Twitter the day after her exchange with the fan.
"I will definitely cancel a prize if I feel like someone is being overly pushy. It's hard doing them in general because the comments and responses alone get FEISTY."
Jackie Aina was also accused of taking three to four months to respond, when in actuality, everything took place in under three weeks.
A few commenters allege the winner only contacted Jackie Aina a few times in one month to merely inquire about her package. Others are sharing Aina took three to four months.
However, if you read the dates (written in the UK formate with the day FIRST and the month second) — the exchange from start to finish took place between February 28 (28/02/18/ and March 18 (18/03/2018), a total of 18 days.
That time frame is only 12 business days — several of which, Aina informed the fan she would be on vacation.
Jackie Aina shared that she also received other emails from the fan aside from the DMs the winner publicized.
To receive the barrage of emails, messages, and then later be dragged on social media and gossip sites would be a terrible feeling for anyone.
And the Soft Glam scandal isn't the only reason Aina may be over her YouTube platform. She's also been criticized for *who* she decides to give her makeup freebies to.
"I couldn't believe it when I donated several bags of clothing and makeup to domestic violence shelters and several people said I was ungrateful and didn't appreciate my subscribes," she said. "…For donating…..to battered women. I've truly seen it all."
Additionally, Aina has spoken out about how "tiring" and "triggering" it is to feel like the greater burden is on her to be the voice of people of color on Youtube.
That said, could Jackie Aina be ready to hang up her YouTube stardom FOREVA? Only torturous time will tell.
There's still a bright side, though!
Jackie Aina's potential YouTube shutdown was also announced with news about her "next career endeavor," so even if she does walk away from the ring light, she won't be totally out of our internet lives.
And the truth is, Aina's held it down on YouTube for 10 years and she's also not the only woman of color dishing great beauty talk on the platform.
It's OK that she wants to do something different in the next stretch of her life. Whatever she decides, the Jackie Jackie Jackie song will forever be in our hearts!
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