Yet another YouTuber is finding themselves in hot water for making insensitive decisions.
You would think that in 2019 people would have learned by now but you would be wrong. So, so wrong.
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The YouTuber in question this time around is Summer McKeen.
For those who don’t know, Summer is a 20-year-old YouTube vlogger who currently has over 2 million subscribers.
Her videos mainly consist of hair and makeup tutorials along with vlogs about her daily life.
Earlier this year Summer found herself involved in some YouTuber drama.
Summer was one of several influencers who were invited on a press trip to Coachella courtesy of fashion app Dote.
After the trip ended, the influencers of color who were invited on the trip spoke out against the brand saying that they were intentionally segregated from everyone else.
YouTuber Daniella Perkins made a vlog about the trip where she was seen crying while at the Dote house.
“I just felt like I was back in school … and feeling so different and out of place and like I don’t belong,” she said.
This then inspired other YouTubers on the trip to make vlogs of their own to discuss the issues on the Dote trip.
For example, YouTuber ItzKeisha shared a video where she pointed out that the white influencers were given master bedrooms and King-sized beds. Meanwhile, the four influencers of color were all made to sleep on pull-out beds and share a single bathroom.
The revelations then caused a widespread backlash from online followers of the brand and the influencers on the trip.
Dote denied intentionally mistreating the other influencers and released a statement saying, “We’re devastated to hear that girls on one of our trips felt that they were treated differently because of their race. I want to make sure you all know that we did not — and would never — intentionally group girls together based on any racial characteristics.”
Summer then posted an apology to her Instastories and revealed she would no longer work with Dote writing, “I refuse to stand by a brand that causes this sort of discomfort to these strong young women.”
Now Summer is involved in yet another bit of drama. This time all on her own.
In a recent vlog, Summer announced her new makeup collaboration with cosmetics brand NudeStix called “The Summer Proof collection.”
The four-piece kit retails for $69 and includes a bronzer stick, blush stick, highlighter, and lip balm.
The problem is, the kit only comes in ONE shade.
When Summer first posted a video about the kit, she deleted it and re-uploaded it a few days later because she “had to deal with some issues.”
It now appears that those “issues” had to do with fans criticizing Summer for the kit’s lack of shade diversity and expensive price point.
Unfortunately for Summer, that second video wasn’t received very well either.
“I specifically chose each one of these little products, down to the product and shade for this kit only,” she says.
Fans responded by calling out the YouTuber in the comments for not properly addressing her fans’ concerns from the first video and possibly deleting negative comments.
“WOW I thought you were better than this… can’t even promote inclusive makeup… and brushes it off as “issues to deal with,'” one person wrote.
Another took Summer’s Instagram and wrote, “Can you stop deleting negative youtube comments so you can make your life look ‘perfect’ when really you just can’t own up to the hate you’re getting?”
So far Summer hasn’t said anything else about the backlash.
NudeStix, however, did respond and defended their decision to only include the four products in Summer’s collection.
In an interview with Buzzfeed News , the company said that while they are committed to providing products for people of various shades, Summer’s collection was made “personal” to her.
“It is really important to note that the Summer Mckeen collaboration is only a selection of Summer’s favorite shades and textures that she loves wearing, personally.”
