The Jaclyn Hill roller coaster continues. Following nearly a month of backlash due to her failed lipstick launch, Jaclyn Hill completely deactivated her social media accounts. The beauty influencer faced a lot of valid critiques concerning her lipsticks after multiple fans reported finding hair-like fibers, plastic, metal, and other substances in their lipstick tubes. She also received a ton of hate. Everyone from fans to her fellow beauty YouTubers called her out on the launch, so Hill resorted to backing totally away from social media. Her Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics website is also down.
Now her mother has updated fans on exactly how Hill is doing mental-health-wise. She also offered her opinions on how this entire lipstick fiasco has affected her daughter.
Her mom started off by thanking the fans who have actually stuck by Jaclyn Hill's side throughout lipstickgate.
"I want to thank each and every one of you for your wonderful messages, thoughts, and prayers for Jaclyn during this time. As her Mom, it has been heartbreaking in so many ways. It was difficult and so very disappointing enough that some of her lipsticks had issues but the onslaught of hate, lies and even betrayal has by far been the worse part. It has been shocking," she wrote.
"No one deserves to be beaten when they are already sad and down," Hill's mother continued.
"But this post is not intended to focus on the negative but rather the positivity that has come out of this. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank those of you who are true and loyal followers and friends of Jaclyn! I’ve always said that she has the very best followers of all! You all are the most kind, sweet, and beautiful souls inside and out and Jaclyn truly loves you! I love you! It has always been a[n] honor to meet you whether it’s in person or through a written message. I am so very grateful for each and every one of you and I wish I could personally give each one a hug. Thank you for having faith in her and forgiving her."
Hill's mother also explained that Hill will be taking time away from social media to get back to a better place, personally.
"Please know that Jaclyn needs time but she will be back stronger than ever," she wrote. "She is surrounded by love and support and she will get through this! She will dust herself off, learn from her mistakes, and try again. After all… she has a dream to fulfill and as long as I have breath in my body I will always be her cheerleader! Please join me in continuing to cheer her on as true friends do and thank you for having COURAGE and being KIND!!"
Hill's ex-husband, Jon Hill, also reacted when he discovered that she left social media.
“Jaclyn deleted all her social media," he wrote on Instagram. "I really hate to see this happen. People shouldn’t underestimate the power of compassion. We’re all human and make mistakes.”
This was his second statement on the matter. Jon also defended Jaclyn a few days earlier.
Several critics believe that Hill's mother and ex-husband are not holding her accountable.
Fans reacted to Jon's initial defense post in the same manner. They seem to believe that they are mistaking all of the valid criticism from her customers for typical social media trolling. It is important to note that the people reporting faulty lipsticks are the same people who actually purchased the lipsticks, meaning they are the "true and loyal followers" that Hill's mom references. Just because people had negative things to say about her lipsticks doesn't mean that they are all bullies.
When you sell a product to people and collect their money, you are indeed responsible for making sure that the product is of a certain quality. When it is not, then you have to accept the negative reaction.
That said, we can acknowledge that not *all* of the negative reactions toward Jaclyn Hill were necessary. She did get some hate that wasn't 100% about goodwill accountability.
An example was when she returned to Twitter after a hiatus to inform her followers that she did miss them. One person wrote, "You just miss my money honey." Was the person *wrong*? Not exactly. Was the tweet necessary? Not really.
It's one thing to reach out to an influencer to express your concern over a product you bought, or a service that you thought could have been better; it's another to constantly hound the person.
After all, you can choose not to engage with any influencer and/or celebrity you dislike.
Express your grievances, if you choose. But if you're going to "cancel" a person, then make sure you cancel them all the way. You don't have to send a nasty message every single time that person tweets. That's not constructive or an attempt to seek accountability. The messages err on the side of trolling at that point. There's nothing wrong with canceling anyone because it's your money and you can do what you want with it.
But cancel the person and then actually leave them alone.
Anywho, let's hope that Hill is OK in terms of her mental health.
I never bought her lipsticks and certainly do not plan to now. I think that her fans are right to question why she keeps having terrible launches when so many other influencers launch multiple products and don't have repeated issues.
Still, what I will not be doing is attacking her online just because it's trendy right now to do so. She already doesn't have my coins. She already announced a mass refund. I don't need her firstborn or for her to sign anything in blood. The beauty community has got to learn to note the difference between accountability and bullying. And that's just that.
