(This is long, but please read this. Just a warning of how this could play out and not to fall for any threats and mind games directed at tattle users exposing racism. Also I’m frustrated as to why some influencers get let off easy while others are not - any insight into this would be helpful).
I can’t believe the traction this is getting compared to ImJesRose on insta (formerly LoftNQ) who runs JesRoseVinyl. Jes said similar things but she was in her 20s! And she tweeted them only 5/6 years ago!
Many similarities between her and Polly. They both have very successful small businesses, are tories, made racist, homophobic, fatphobic, anti-Asian tweets. Like Polly, Jes put her personal insta account to private, deleted Twitter, deleted and limited comments, blocked customers who asked her about it etc.
She took forever to apologise (and only did so on her newly-privated personal account, not her biz account, and the apology is now deleted!) and when she did apologise, she downplayed it all and said if anyone mentions it again, they are getting blocked.
Her mum and sister were backing her up on socials and threatening tattle users with court action. A couple of tattlers didn’t cover their tracks properly by quoting on tattle what comments they’d left on her insta, so Jes knew who they were and coerced (blackmailed) them via insta DM to make a public apology on the tattle thread, otherwise Jes would tell their employers they were cyber bullying her. One of the people who was blackmailed into apologising was a POC who had been upset by her racism. Another was a mum scared of losing her job who was suffering from depression. Jes even went as far as hiring a private investigator to dox tattle users. Obviously nothing came of that, because tattle wouldn’t release user info. As a result of the legal threats, coerced apologies, and fear, her tattle thread died.
Now, despite Jes having a huge personal and business insta following, her tattle maybe only had 20 regular posters, a few of which commented on her Instagram about her racist tweets. No other businesses/influencers called her out publicly or unfollowed her, so apart from a few people calling her out on her Instagram, nothing really happened and she still has a large following which is much larger than Polly’s and gets pr gifts from major brands and small businesses. She doesn’t appear to have learned anything, nor has she been proactive about showing her following she has learned anything or changed.
I think her insta followers were also too scared to say anything because Jes said that the ‘bullying’ was affecting her mental health. What about the mental health of the minority groups she was tweeting about?
I can’t help wondering…where was this energy for her? Or maybe her followers (including other influencers like Leanne Lim Walker, Interior Curve, Around Robyn, Megan Ellaby and many small businesses and big brands like Made.com & Joanie Clothing) simply don’t care that they are supporting & promoting someone so unrepentantly problematic, as long as they get to look at cute photos in their feed, or it makes them money in the long run?