In case you slept on last week's intense beauty YouTuber drama, here's what you missed: Jeffree Star's ex-hairstylist, with whom he'd worked closely for years, allegedly leaked text messages written in 2017 by Star that contained a racial slur and referred to black YouTuber Jackie Aina as "that gorilla."
Star finally addressed the claims of racism in his typical way — but this time he followed it with a look that will only fuel the fire of rage for those he keeps offending over and over again.
"Nobody cares about the truth when the lies are more entertaining," Star tweeted in response to alleged leaked texts that surfaced last week.
He went so far as to call texts in which he allegedly called Jackie Aina "that gorilla" and used the N word as "fake news."
"This game is getting old. I'm bored," he wrote.
Jackie Aina certainly had a few things to say about this situation and Star's repeated behavior, too.
"In today's culture of authentic representation, we as a beauty community can only grow and thrive by refusing to accept bigotry in any form, no matter the brand or person. If there's going to be a standard let's raise it for everyone."
She tagged Jeffree Star directly.
"No matter what changes do not pressure, urge me, or force me to accept and forgive someone who will never accept someone like me," she continued.
"If a 'smear campaign' follows my stance on this ultimately should maybe you question why EVERYTIME someone professionally expresses concerns about this person... why they'd have to be punished for it," she concluded.
Aina's right to be as over this as she sounds. She's using the voice she has to stand up to a person who's personally offended her (and black women everywhere) multiple times — but she should not have to keep rehashing this over and over again.
It's not her responsibility to explain over and over again why Star's behavior is considered racist and why he hasn't been forgiven by everyone.
Star is the one who said he would understand if people ceased supporting him due to the offensive things he's said, after all.
But his actions and his words aren't always compatible — just like how "I'm sorry for saying racist things a long time ago" doesn't match his choice to wear cornrow braids this weekend.
This look, of course, ignited a flurry of encouraging comments from his (overwhelmingly white) following.
But even worse, it allowed those fans to engage in commentary that outright declared "cultural appropriation doesn't matter."
Um, not true, dude.
And also to perpetrate the very false idea that hairstyles borrowed from other cultures is just not that big of a deal.
And to publicly express some very large misunderstandings as to what cultural appropriation actually is.
You're not even close, bro.
Regardless of your personal opinions of Star and his actions, you can't deny that the timing of these two events is alarming.
One day you're calling the black community's concerns about your treatment of them "fake news," and the next you're copping a hairstyle they've historically been discriminated against for wearing?
Just, uh, have a long and hard think about that.
