TikTok star condemned after racist, anti-gay texts leaked
Isabella Avila, known as @onlyjayus on TikTok, was also criticized for her "scripted" apology
TikTok star Isabella Avila has been condemned after screenshots of old texts leaked showing her using anti-gay and racial slurs against another TikTok star.
Although Avila, who goes by the username OnlyJayUs on the platform, released an apology on Feb. 13, Black creators on the social media platform have rebuked her video as insincere and insufficient.
Avila, who is lesbian, had been known as the “psychology facts girl” for the lighthearted videos she made about science and psychology. She began posting videos on YouTube in 2016, and moved to TikTok in 2019.
The backlash started after screenshots leaked in early February of Avila, 21, using racial and anti-gay slurs in a conversations from Aug. 2016 with another white creator.
She used a racist slur for Black people, calling the other creator a “n***** lover,” as well as the anti-gay slur “faggot.”
“I hope your parents get cancer,” Avila wrote, adding, “I hope everyone you love dies.”
Avila posted a public apology on February 13, calling her comments “disgusting” and saying she was “so ashamed of myself for using racist rhetoric and derogatory language to hurt others because I knew what that word meant and I understood the power behind it.”
“I said it anyway because it was the meanest thing that I could think of and I’m so sorry to everyone,” she said, “but especially to those in the Black community because only you guys can forgive me for this.”
Avila said when she “first saw the screenshots, I didn’t even think that they were real because I forgot how hateful and how angry of a person I used to be.”
She added: “The screenshots and the things I’ve said in the past are not a reflection of who I am today.”
@onlyjayus I know how frustrating it was waiting for me to address this. Instead of reacting like I usually do I wanted to do better & reflect first
Avila replied to her own video saying she would “take a step back” from TikTok to give space for Black creators in order for them to “educate others on the trauma that happens when we use this kind of language”
Black creators immediately criticized Avila’s apology, Yahoo News reports, with TikTok star and activist @morgan.thecreator taking aim at Avila’s “fake crying” and “scripted” apology.
@morgantheblackfairy
Another TikTok star, @sietesays, said Avila’s use of a racist slur to “insult someone for being in a relationship with a Black person” was “so hateful and it is so violent.”
@sietesays Reply to @sophinamariemalfoy A slur is a slur, but “n-er lover” takes the cake. @onlyjayus I genuinely hope you realize the gravity of those words.
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