A petition to ban popular TikToker Isabella Avila, user @onlyjayus, after they were accused of anti-Black behavior has collected over 400,000 signatures.
The embattled Avila was called out earlier this year for racist messages and attacking a creator with anti-gay and racist slurs. After issuing an apology in February, they allegedly ghosted a host of Black creators and went back on several promises to uplift people of color.
Vanellope Von Addams, who started the petition, laid out creators’ beef with Avila on Change.org and explained why the user “needs to be banned from TikTok.”
“They have been caught and called out multiple times for mistreating disabled creators and creators of color,” Vanellope wrote. Avila is also accused of “making a joke about robbing disabled people and hosting rigged giveaways” and contacting a ghostwriter to scribe an apology for racist comments.
“I didn’t start to really see Jayus’s true colors until they were exposed by Aunt Karen,” Vanellope told the Tab. “When Jayus ghosted Aunt Karen and failed to hold up on their promises to ‘lift black voices,’ that was my a-ha moment that Jayus wasn’t sorry.”
Popular Black TikToker Aunt Karen (@auntkaren0) says in a video that Avila was essentially “creating [their] own downfall.”
Despite the petition to get them de-platformed, Avila’s TikTok is steadily acquiring followers. According to Dexerto, “Over the last 30 days despite the petition, [@onlyjayus] saw a gain of 1.7 million followers between June 6 and July 5. Their daily average growth has been around 60,000 followers per day.”
“I’m soooooo scared,” Avila tweeted last month. “Good luck getting more than 13.5 [million] signatures.”
However, Dexerto also reports a broad decline in engagement: “Their follower growth is down 34.6% compared to the previous 30 day period. In the week the petition launched, subscriber growth dropped from 1.1 million to 100,000 per week, and likes went from 41.5 million to 6.8 million.”
Vanellope said that whether or not @onlyjayus is ultimately “canceled” will be up to the “affected communities,” including @auntkaren0.
“I personally do not feel that it is my decision to make,” Vanellope told the Tab. “Jayus needs to seek forgiveness from the Black community, the trans community, and the disabled community.”
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H/T Dexerto