Certain Influencers Have Been Really Quiet This Week

Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images

In case you’ve been living under a rock lately (lucky!), convicted felon Donald Trump was elected to the highest U.S. office. And for many of us, Election Week has been a rollercoaster of emotions. For some influencers, though, it’s business as usual as they continue to do GRWMs and shill for their favorite lip-plumping products like it’s literally any other week. On TikTok, a handful of influencers are being called out by followers, fellow influencers, and critics for their silence.

Alix Earle and other influencers are being called out for not posting anything on Election Day.

TikToker Kate Glavan made a video saying, “Speaking as an influencer, a lot of your favorite influencers are fucking embarrassing.” She continues, saying, “To be a woman in America with a huge fucking platform and a huge audience and post nothing yesterday, just business as usual, ‘I’m going to my Pilates and I’m going to my brunch …’ No one gives a fuck about your Amazon storefront or your fucking makeup routine.” The first comment calls out Alix Earle, who posted about her Amazon holiday favorites on Election Day eve. On the day of the election, she posted a typical day-in-the-life video of Monday (the day before the election) and her comments were flooded with people asking her about voting.

Houston-based influencer Marissa Deanne uploaded a video titled, “okay which influencers do I need to block,” before listing influencers she is really disappointed by.

“Alix Earle, I figured, I just thought maybe, maybe her being chronically online she would say something,” she says. She was silent, of course. Deanne also calls out an influencer Tasia Alexis for saying that people can “agree to disagree.” “Heard you loud and clear, bestie,” Deanne says. Her comments section is filled with people saying who they are blocking or unfollowing, too. “Jenna Palek?! I haven’t seen her post anything,” one commenter says. Another comments reads, “Sofia Richie hurts.” Richie has also been silent about everything. Over the weekend, accounts have been calling out TikTok influencer Nara Smith, who is known for making all her food from scratch, for not saying anything about the election.

Kim Kardashian has been called out for posting with Ivanka Trump five days before the election.

Days before the election, Kim Kardashian seemingly deleted her son Saint West’s YouTube channel after he posted anti-Harris videos. She also posted Ivanka Trump on her Instagram Stories for her birthday. “No one sweeter than you,” she captioned the selfie. One creator posted that photo on TikTok to show people where Kardashian stands despite her silence and her apparent deletion of Saint’s channel. Comments on that video noted that Kendall and Kris posted about Kamala on their Instagram Stories. “Next time you’re about to hit checkout on the Skims website, I want you to remember this photo,” the creator says. Skims also launched its holiday campaign this week, which features Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, and their family. The comments section is filled with comments like, “Kim read the room damn,” and “This is incredibly insensitive considering the election.”

So which influencers did speak up?

Some creators who spoke out include TV personality Kamie Crawford, who did phone banking for Kamala Harris alongside other creators in the weeks leading up to the election. New York City creator Aiyana Lewis also spoke out, and Allison Kuch, Cyrus Veyssi, Tenicka Boyd, Hannah Chody, Hello Tefi, Isabelle Lux, Alexa Jay, and Just Jazzy are a few others who didn’t shy away from using their platforms.

Well, do influencers owe us an explanation of who they voted for?

Longtime beauty influencer Shayla Mitchell posted a video describing how heavy the past few days have been. “The excitement of seeing someone who looks like me become president filled my heart with hope that change is happening. Waking up the day after the election reminded me of what I knew all along: This country is probably not ready for a Black woman to lead us, and honestly that’s really hard to digest,” she says. When a commenter thanked her for posting the video and mentioned how many influencers were choosing silence and it wasn’t okay, Mitchell responded, saying, “Honestly I think people deserve the space and time to be silent OR speak up. Everyone is different ❤️.” But one of her followers made a great point: “They’re not silent because they need space and time. They’re silent because they voted for Trump! I’ve had to unfollow some of the beauty influencers that I’ve followed for years atp.”

While they may not literally owe us anything, it does feel irresponsible to have a platform and turn a blind eye to something as huge as this election. Sure, influencing is a job and everyone has to get back to work. But we as consumers can make choices as well. We can make choices about who we follow, where our money goes, and whose Amazon storefronts we buy from. And we won’t be buying our holiday pajamas from Skims this year.