Sometimes, telling a little white lie can get you out of something you don't want to do — like going to a hot yoga class with your sister on a Friday night or chipping in $100 for your friends' over-the-top baby shower. But when you're a celebrity with 18 million followers, like Lele Pons, there are hundreds of people just waiting to fact-check your fib.
In Pons' case, it all started when the Venezuelan social media star uploaded a now-deleted Instagram photo of her new haircut. (A platinum lob, similar to the trend sweeping Hollywood right now.) In the pic, Pons was holding up appeared to be the ends of a ponytail. She claimed that she would be donating it to charity, but people on Twitter were quick to point out that she was not, in fact, holding real hair — but extensions.
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Care to explain how you chopped off your "hair" and "donated" it @lelepons?? Last time I checked you can't donate extensions. pic.twitter.com/mUvckfllDa
— Emily (@Emily_graceffa) July 7, 2017
Footage of lele giving up hair to donate pic.twitter.com/oFMx3SrWL6
— jackkkkk (@coIIabing) July 7, 2017
Lele pons literally pretended to donate her hair when It was extensions and her hair is bleached loool
— Tori Vega (@hellopignoli) July 7, 2017
mhhh i'm confused..... "your" hair? Last time I checked they don't accept extensions pic.twitter.com/bx0H3C1JNM
— joana (@boysftlox) July 8, 2017
Okay but why did you post the picture if you knew you couldn't donate it?
— michelle (@normalrubio) July 8, 2017
If she has such great intentions why not clear it up in the photo? Why not say this isn't my hair just a prop to show how long?
— ☼Channah☼ (@ChannahCherelle) July 8, 2017
Within hours, #leleponsisoverparty began trending on Twitter, and the 21-year-old responded in a series of tweets. “To help clear any assumptions, I cut my hair with the intention of donating it. Sadly after trying, I learned charities who donate wigs don’t accept color treated hair. So I’m finding other ways to help those affected by hair loss b/c of cancer. This is still a priority for me.”
When we reached out for comment, Pons told Refinery29 exclusively that the whole ordeal was one big miscommunication. "The locks of hair [shown] in the Instagram photo was used as reference to show how many inches I cut," she says. "At the time of the photo, my real hair was being collected to make a ponytail because I had intended on donating it." She even provided us a photo of her real hair, which you can see for yourself at right.
But she meant what she said in her original tweet. "I’m discussing potential opportunities with a local hospital on other ways I can help," she tells us. We have a feeling people are going to want to see the receipts.
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