Hot Mess, TikTok star Alix Earle apologizes for racist social media posts
'Regardless of what’s being said online, I wanted to come on here to address the facts and most importantly apologize'
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Social media star Alix Earle has apologized for making racist social media posts when she was 13 years old on Askfm.
Although the posts in question, which included Earle using the N-word, were first publicized on Reddit two years ago, they resurfaced again after being shared on TikTok.
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In an Instagram Story, the Miami-based Earle, 23, said she “did not understand the deeply offensive meaning behind that word.
“A couple of weeks ago, screenshots surfaced from my old ask.fm account showing me using a slur in the summer of 2014,” the Hot Mess with Alix Earle podcast host and TikTok star wrote. “I am taking accountability and want to make it clear that I was 13 years old and did not understand the deeply offensive meaning behind that word. That is no excuse for using that word in any context or at any age. That is absolutely not the way I speak or what I stand for.”
Earle hinted that there were people close to her urging her to stay silent as the news spread as she addressed her reasons for not speaking out until now.
“I regret how I handled this situation, allowing too many people to talk me out of saying something for too long. I wasn’t sure how to handle it and unfortunately the advice I was given, although well-intended, was wrong,” she wrote.
Earle said that she was “sincerely sorry to those I offended.
“I am deeply sorry that my words have hurt many and have led people to believe that I have any prejudice in my heart. I promise you that could not be further from the truth,” the beauty and lifestyle influencer continued. “There is no one to blame but myself for not standing my ground and going with my gut to speak out right away. In the absence of my addressing this, my silence allowed others to fill the void with rumours that simply aren’t true.”
The social media star ended her statement by writing, “Regardless of what’s being said online, I wanted to come on here to address the facts and most importantly apologize.”
Earle became a social media sensation when she started posting to TikTok in 2022 as a student at the University of Miami. After achieving overnight fame, she’s amassed over seven million followers on TikTok and more than three million followers on Instagram.
Her viral “get ready with me” videos helped land her at No. 8 on Rolling Stone’s 2024 list of most influential creators.
Earlier this year, she made history when she became the cover star for Sports Illustrated’s first digital version of their iconic Swimsuit Issue.
“It has been a long-time dream of mine to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, and I’m deeply honoured to be named their first-ever digital cover star,” Earle said in a news release. “Becoming part of the SI family and now joining alongside such strong, powerful, and inspiring women is incredibly meaningful to me.”
Earle went on to tell SI that she has connected with people by “being authentically herself.
“I definitely think people have misconceptions about me,” she said (per USA Today). “There’s millions of people online who get it wrong all the time. And I think my audience has a good understanding of who I am and why I post what I post. People who have a misunderstanding about me don’t really engage in all of my content and see everything that I do.”
Earle’s apology came after content creator Brooke Schofield — who has more than 2.1 million followers on TikTok — was also forced to apologize earlier this month for her past racist messages on social media.
In her posts, which she wrote when she was a teen, NBC reported that Schofield had defended George Zimmerman’s killing of Trayvon Martin, used racist language and mocked Black people’s hair.
“I’m sorry, very, very sorry, to anybody who is hurt by the tweets because obviously they’re very hurtful,” Schofield said in a video posted to TikTok. “This is not how I think, that is not what I believe and I’m 27 years old now. I’ve had so much time to learn and grow and formulate my own opinions.”
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