Beauty brand Ipsy apologises over ‘transphobic’ Pride video
Rainbow make-up. (Photo: JohanJK)
Cosmetics company Ipsy has said sorry for a now-deleted video it released in celebration of Pride month in the US, which was slammed as “transphobic” and implied trans women aren’t “authentic.”
The video, which was deleted in response to the furore, showed a lesbian called Cassandra talking about her experiences.
She said: “I’m attracted to women and there’s definitely a spectrum between trans women, between authentic cis-gendered women, and everything in between.”
The video soon came under fire on social media.
Author Ijeoma Oluo lashed out at the video, and claimed the beauty brand had deleted comments from transgender people objecting to it.
Oluo posted on Twitter: “So @Ipsy @ipsycare posted a transmisogynistic video for pride month referring to trans women and ‘authentic cisgendered women’ and now they are deleting fb comments from trans folk calling them out on it.”
Another critic on Twitter wrote: “Trans women ARE authentic women, @ipsy. If you’d actually consulted trans people to make this video, rather than blindly cashing in on what you THINK is a good #Pride moment, you could have avoided this.
“Shocked to see you’re doubling down on the error.”
(IjeomaOluo/Twitter)
And one Twitter user said they had cancelled their Ipsy subscription in response to the video because they, “don’t give money to transphobic brands.”
Ipsy has now released a statement on Facebook apologising for the video.
(sshabein/Twitter)
“This weekend, we shared a video with the hopes of kicking off Pride month through heartfelt stories told by inspiring LGBTQ+ creators,” the beauty company wrote.
“Unfortunately, we missed the mark in a very big way. Our sincere apologies to anyone that we hurt with the thoughtless comments included in the video that seemed to imply that trans women were not authentic women.
“It was a big mistake and oversight to have included that line in what was meant to be a celebration of inclusivity. We realize we really messed up and that we still have a lot to learn.”
(TitheGirl/Twitter)
The cosmetics brand thanked peopled for calling out the video, adding: “We never intended to make anyone in our community feel anything less than the powerful, beautiful, inspiring people you are.”
The company also said that it would look at ways it can “reduce the damage” caused by the video and “will make an announcement on this in the next 2 days.”
Last month, another make-up brand, Sephora, announced it will roll out in-store makeup classes for trans people, administered by the company’s trans staff.
