Last month, YouTube beauty blogger Laura Lee issued an apology video after fans found racist and fat-shaming tweets on her account. She claimed at the time that some of the tweets had been doctored.
Many fans felt the video came off like Lee wasn't truly sorry and instead was using it to seek sympathy and forgiveness. In the wake of the scandal, companies like Ulta, ColourPop Cosmetics, and Morphe seemed to have dropped her partnerships, and she reportedly lost 500,000 subscribers over the course of a month. Now, Lee has put out another apology video, this time apologizing for her first one, which fans ultimately deemed insensitive.
As of Thursday, she reportedly removed the first apology video from her account and released a new statement taking full responsibility for her actions. "I owe you guys a sincere apology. In that video, I come off more as a victim. I am not a victim in any way, form or fashion in this situation. I'm taking the video down because it doesn't represent me well, I am not taking the video down to try to hide it from you guys or pretend like it didn't happen," she says in the latest clip. "In the video, you guys received more of a reaction to the situation than you did a response… and that is my reasoning for taking it down."
"I take full responsibility for the things that I tweeted and that I re-tweeted six and a half years ago," she continues, saying that some of the tweets on her account from the time weren't real, and sharing the ones that were her own doing. "But I am truly sorry. I have changed so much as a human being in the last six and half years, I have grown so much and I have gained so much knowledge and respect, I know that prejudice and stereotypes are never funny in any way fashion or form."
She then goes on to discuss the fact that the beauty industry is "not in a good place" and says that she wants to be the one to change that. "I wanna turn this whole community around," she says, "and I know we can do that together."
Based on the response to the video, Laura Lee's fans aren't exactly impressed at this second attempt at redemption, either. The video's "thumbs-down" ratings greatly outnumber the "thumbs-ups" reviews (84K to 64K, as of press time) and the comment section is pretty harsh. "'I have gained so much knowledge and respect' Me: yeah right," wrote one fan. "When the first approaching and bills are due ??☕️," called out another. You can watch the video below to see what you think.
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