A beauty blogger has apologised for a makeup look that critics claimed "mocked" people witih the skin condition vitiligo, including the Canadia model Winnie Harlow.
Instagram user Golgiknowsbest shared the image earlier this week, which featured white patches around his eyes and mouth. His followers and others soon called him out for the look, with many saying he appeared to be trying to mimic people with vitiligo, including Harlow.
see what we're NOT gonna do here is mimic skin conditions and make them a makeup trend. She's cancelled. pic.twitter.com/NunrXfcryo
— ⚜️Lil Esha⚜️ (@ESHAXQ) November 14, 2017
"See what we're NOT gonna do here is mimic skin conditions and make them a makeup trend. She's cancelled," wrote Twitter user @ESHAXQ" as a caption to Golgi's photo. She wrote in a follow-up tweet: "Really don't understand why people are comparing vitiligo to the freckles makeup trend. Freckles are most definitely not a skin disorder."
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Many others joined in by condemning the blogger's makeup choice. "This makes me LIVID. My beautiful cousin has vitiligo and was severely bullied her whole life over this condition. She herself is a work of art. This is not art," said @Behbeh.
But sis really out here and COPIED Winnie Harlow’s skin patter. aight pic.twitter.com/Xak6gbyVVE
— marina mancione (@marinamancione) November 14, 2017
Following the backlash, Golgi removed the photo and published an apology on Instagram. He claimed he was in fact inspired by Valentina from Ru Paul's Drag Race, who last week shared a makeup look on Instagram which featured sections of silver around her eyes and on her arm.
"I deleted the post," Golgi wrote. "I didn't expect for this to get NEARLY a much attention as it did, so I was shocked when I came from work to see so many fighting and negativity in the comments. To clarify: this was inspired by a photo of @allaboutvalentina in which she had grey splotches on her face and running down her arms. This look was just a way for me to have more fun/experiment with my makeup."
He continued: "I in NO WAY intended for this to represent vitiligo, and I sincerely apologize that it offended so many people. I do admit I could've clarified some of that a bit more, but we all learn from our mistakes! At the end of the day, no one is immune to controversy and we can all grow from it!"
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