To be a successful celebrity nowadays, you have to know what’s going on in the world and you have to explain yourself well in a manner that everyone will understand. Because if you don’t, you better be prepared for war (over social media) and death (of endorsement deals).
That’s what happened to Miss Universe Malaysia 2017 Samantha Katie James when she posted a series of stories on her Instagram account explaining her stand on the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
“To the black people, relax, take it as a challenge, makes you stronger.
“You chose to be born as a ‘coloured’ person in America for a reason. To learn a certain lesson.
“Accept it as it is, till now hunger and poverty still exists. It is what it is. It’s inevitable. Best you can do is remain calm, protect heart, don’t allow it to crumble,” the beauty queen said in one of her IG stories.
After her posts, James received major backlash from other celebrities and social media at large, and there’s even a petition over change.org to strip her of her Miss Universe Malaysia crown and title, where more than 135,000 have already signed.
James eventually posted an apology on her Instagram account, explaining how poorly she articulated herself.
“I do hear you, I’m sorry, I know you’re hurting. I know it’s unfair. I’m not in your shoes to understand this fully.
“Furthermore, you asked me to explain what I meant by ‘black people chose to be black’ is that throughout my journey I have learned that we are more than just this temporary physical body, like an avatar, merely a tiny speck of dust in this vast infinite universe, we tend to overlook that from time to time. In our process towards evolution as a human being, on earth. We chose our body, our family, our place of birth, our name and our lessons from the path we take tailor made for us.
“I understand a lot of people have shared that I could have phrased my content differently, and I accept that I am responsible for my words. I will make sure I articulate my speech in a proper manner.
“To clear the air, yes I did poorly articulate myself when writing ‘black people chose to be black’ and ‘to the black people, relax, take it as a challenge, it makes you stronger’. If I had been more attentive in how I wrote it, the message would off been understood as a heartfelt message to all victims of racism be it any colour.
“Yes, my mother is Chinese Malaysian, father is Brazilian and my foster parents who raised me up are Indian Malaysian.”
Because of this social media disaster, Velvet Vanity Cosmetics, where James is an endorser, cut their ties with the beauty queen over a statement on their own Instagram account.
But it seems bashers are not done with her just yet, and in a recent post, James is crying foul over those who lack empathy over what happened.
Still, the backlash continues, when one person commented, “Nothing you say makes sense” while another one said, “You need to stop trying so hard to be so pretentiously philosophical because at this point, you sound ridiculous and you’re giving shame to actual thinkers and philosophers.”
It doesn’t take a philosopher to know that this beauty queen has been cancelledt.