A Tasmanian influencer has been accused of being a white supremacist after captioning a photo of a quilt, “white is right.”
The influencer, whose name is Claire, has more than 112,000 followers. Her Instagram handle is @thekmartlover, and she posts all about the Kmart products she’s loving at the moment. Last week, Claire posted a photo of a Kmart white waffle quilt, and in the caption said, “white is right.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7sdBqAJPEK/
Claire quickly faced backlash over the original caption and changed the post. “Can you beat a white quilt cover for a relaxing entrance to a bedroom? I love it!” the new caption reads.
Claire then addressed the controversy the next day in a post. Claire did not apologize for using language that white supremacists use but instead took the opportunity to call out her critics for being “purely unkind.”
“This week I have been trolled as being racist for saying ‘white is right’ about the depicted doona cover. … I could stay quiet as some of you have suggested and not respond to any of these remarks but that is not me. … I am taking a stance against this small minority of society that feel this behaviour is ok because it is not. … I am using my voice so that hopefully this changes the mindset of one person out there that has thought about writing something negative in any online forum. I am using my voice so that hopefully one less person becomes a victim to self-harm and/or suicide due to online trolling,” Claire’s caption reads.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7vDSUUJAW7/
Many of Claire’s followers weren’t bothered by the “white is right” comment. “White is right with those pants. They look great!” one user wrote in response to Claire’s new post.
Though there were no comments from critics, Claire received an outpouring of love and support from her followers.
“I find it a bit sad that theres people out there that read way more into something that was just a genuine innocent comment and turn it into something it’s not,” another user commented.
One user apologized to Claire for having to “experience this.”
“Social media, although great the majority of the time, but for the minority who attack others should know, it is just not on. No one knows what a person is experiencing in their life at the time of being attacked/bullied, it might just be the one comment that pushes a person over the edge,” they added.
Claire’s post also promoted a T-shirt she designed in collaboration with Small Print Design, where $5 from every sale is donated to Bully Zero, an anti-bullying organization.
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H/T news
