Lifestyle influencer Brooke Schofield is learning a painful lesson about the reality of social media – the internet never forgets. Instead of posting videos of herself dancing with friends or hanging out with her cat, most of Schofield’s recent content has been apology videos for resurfaced racist tweets she made in 2012 and 2015 defending the killing of Trayvon Martin.
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In one tear-filled video, she acknowledged that her comments were “disturbing” and “disgusting,” but says she was just a teenager at the time. Schofield adds that most of her views were shaped by her right wing conservative grandparents who kept Fox News and Rush Limbaugh on constant rotation. She says her grandparents raised her because her parents struggled with addiction.
“Whatever I heard, I just passed on,” Schofield said in the video.
In another video, Schofield told followers that now that she understands the implications of her words, she’s made donations to the Trayvon Martin Foundation and continues to do research other communities and foundations she can support.
“I think reparations are more important than apologies,” she said in the clip.
An overwhelming number of Schofield’s 2.2 million followers sent love in the comments. Some even said their love for her has grown after she made herself vulnerable on her page. We don’t even have to tell you that almost all of these people were white.
“They could never make me hate you. You have been so responsive to everyone’s concerns and issues and it literally shows growth first hand,” wrote someone in the comments of one of Brooke’s apology videos that has received over five million views to date.
But Black TikTok is calling BS, saying being young is not an excuse to make racist posts online.
“Every time one of these white influencers gets caught for some of the crazy things that they’ve said in the past, everyone says it was a different time. But I always say to myself, ‘okay, a different time for who?’ because we always knew it was wrong,” said @charity._.lyn. “And if we knew it was wrong, we were definitely telling them it was wrong, so they also knew it was wrong.”
“Brooke Schofield ‘liking’ comments from her white from her white fans accepting her apology to Black women is exactly why it can’t be trusted,” said @alexisbelon. “Her apology is for them so they don’t feel guilty still supporting her. It was never for POC. Hence why she didn’t mention us directly.”
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