TikTok star Alix Earle is facing backlash over ten-year-old online posts that a flood of social media users claim show her using a variation on the n-word multiple times.
Earle, a 23-year-old University of Miami grad who skyrocketed to internet fame in 2020 with her Get Ready With Me (GRWM) TikTok videos, has seen her social media accounts inundated with references to screenshots that appear to show a user named @Alix_earle using racially charged language on Ask.fm, a once-popular site that has since undergone major rebranding.
Screenshots published on Reddit in 2022 purport to show user @Alix_earle answering questions on the formerly Q&A-style site. In response to one anonymous question from June 25, 2014, that asked, "Why did you say bye bye Annie," @Alix_earle purportedly responded, "Take a joke nigga." Another question from June 28, 2014, which vaguely asked "with who" — presumably a follow-up to a previous inquiry — @Alix_earle responded, "My nigga."
If Earle published those posts, she would have been 13 years old at the time.
New Times attempted to reach Earle by phone but has yet to hear back.
The screenshots were shared on the Reddit community r/AlixEarleSnark but resurfaced on TikTok earlier this week and generated widespread attention and calls for a response from the influencer.
"Not Alix Earle, too," one TikToker, @therealmonicaray, says in a video. "It's exhausting. I'm not shocked; it's just tiring."
Another user opined on Instagram that Earle needed "some press releases to explain" the old messages attributed to her.
Earle has yet to comment publicly on the matter. Her public relations team did not respond to New Times' emailed request for comment.
A New Jersey native, Earle boasts 7.1 million followers on TikTok thanks to popular day-in-a-life style vlogs that often show off her chaotic party girl lifestyle. She's currently dating Miami Dolphins wide receiver Braxton Berrios.
Commenters on social media are comparing Earle's situation to that of another TikTok influencer who recently received backlash.
Brooke Schoefield, who has more than 2.2 million TikTok followers, apologized this week after old posts on other platforms showed her defending George Zimmerman’s 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin and admitting to using "racist profanities" in public.
In response to the Schoefield controversy, Black creators have voiced their frustration with how swiftly white creators are forgiven by non-Black audiences after being exposed for racist remarks.
"We have the same discourse every single year, so who is learning? Who is changing if this same thing happens like clockwork?" creator Cameron Kira asked in a recent TikTok video.