Pro-Trump YouTube personality and beauty influencer Amanda Ensing has called on her followers to boycott Sephora after the beauty brand cut ties with her for not being “aligned” wit its “values around inclusivity.”
“#BoycottSephora for saying conservatives, like myself, don’t align with @Sephora ‘values around inclusivity,’” Amanda Ensing, a Christian woman of Puerto Rican descent with 1.4 million followers on Instagram, said on Twitter Sunday.
The company last week said it will no longer partner with Ensing to promote its products after the brand received critical comments on YouTube in which she promoted its skin care products on rewardStyle, an influencer-based platform.
She was criticized by internet users over tweets she posted shortly before the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, and days later, the beauty company announced it will no longer work with her.
“We were made aware that Amanda Ensing, an influencer contracted through one of our external vendors’ campaigns, recently shared content on social media that is not aligned with Sephora’s values around inclusivity,” Sephora said in several social media posts.
“As soon as we were informed, we made the decision to cease all programming with Amanda and will not be engaging with her for future partnerships.”
The company didn’t elaborate on what “content” it found objectionable.
However, before reports of violence at the Capitol emerged on Jan. 6, Ensing wrote on Twitter: “There’s not enough popcorn in the world for what’s about to happen.”
Shortly later, she clarified that her tweet was in reference to “the amount of corruption about to be revealed in our government. As usual, the left twists our words.”
“To clarify: this was NOT condoning violence at the Capitol. Violence is NEVER okay, no matter which party it is,” she added on Jan. 8. “I was referring to corruption I believe will be exposed in the coming weeks & would not be set in stone after certification of a rigged election. That was not my intention.”
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Ensing in an Instagram video late Tuesday defended her posts, saying her initial tweet was written “way before” any violence was reported at the Capitol.
“It’s weak. They [Sephora] are using opinions on baseless facts to try to smear me,” Ensing told her followers.
“You’re just trying to smear the ‘little guy’ because you think you’re a big bad business,” she continued. “This is what the left always does, cancel culture. They twist and manipulate every little thing to make you look like a bad person, to call you a domestic terrorist, to call you violent, to call you all of these things.”
“Yet I find it interesting that Sephora never spoke up against the riots or the looting,” Ensing added, referring to rioting, looting, and arson incidents that took place nationwide during the summer months of last year.
“I don’t remember them every saying anything about the burning and the looting of business, and of people being hurt and tragically killed. That violence was ‘ok’ it seems to these brands,” she added.
Ensing accused Sephora of “bowing to the mob” over critical comments following their partnership.
“To me, claiming diversity and unity yet trying to paint a Christian, conservative, Latina as ‘violent’ or trying to make light of a terrible situation, or essentially making me feel like I’m a ‘domestic terrorist’ as many conservatives were called just for being conservative after Jan. 6, is wrong. It’s disgusting, it’s despicable, and it is so embarrassing.”
Sephora didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.
It has said that Ensing’s political views did not play a role in their decision to cut ties with the influencer.
“We respect individual perspectives and freedom of expression but do reserve the right to end any partnership that does not meet our brand standards,” the company said in a statement to news outlets.
From The Epoch Times
