Scratch a liberal, find a bigot. On Friday, the Wichita Eagle reported that Gypsy Freeman, a woman who splits her time between Wichita, Kansas, and Florida, was declared the winner of a national art contest sponsored by Kat Von D Beauty and was set to receive a prize package worth about $2,100. That is, until an Instragram user found a post on her page supporting Donald Trump. Once that was made known to the company, Freeman reportedly received a message from Kat Von D’s Instragram account informing her that she was disqualified.
According to the Eagle:
When Freeman was announced as the winner, curious Instagrammers went to her page and found a pro-Trump post from Election Day last year.
That evening, she received a direct message from Kat Von D’s personal Instagram account, telling her the celebrity had “drawn a personal line in the sand between myself and anyone who supports that man,” according to screenshots of the conversation.
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“My launch party [and my brand] celebrates many things that Trump is against,” the celebrity went on to say, according to the screenshots. “And I just need you to know that I personally have a hard time with inviting anyone who would support such an anti-feminist, anti-homosexual/LGBT, anti-immigrant, and anti-climate change fascist such as Trump.”
According to the screenshots, Freeman replied: “I won’t be upset with you if you can’t have us there for these reasons, and I wish you the best. We would love to be there, of course, but I sincerely do understand if you decide to replace us with someone who supports the candidate you support.”
The celebrity then replied, according to the screenshots provided: “It’s not about inviting people based on their political stance – it’s just extremely difficult (borderline impossible) for me to be friends with or associate with anyone who would support a man who goes against everything I stand for. I would feel the same way towards people who supported Hitler, or any other fascist.”
“Multiple phone calls and messages left with Kendo Holdings, the parent company of Kat Von D Beauty, have not been returned,” the Eagle said, and all evidence of the contest’s existence was scrubbed from the brand’s Instagram account and website, however, the contest rules are available in a cached version of the site.
The rules clearly state:
The Promotion is open to any legal U.S. residents residing in any of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, (including Puerto Rico but excluding Rhode Island, Guam and all other U.S. and foreign territories and possessions not otherwise mentioned herein) who are 18 years of age or older (“Entrants”). Employees and their immediate family members (parents, children, siblings or spouse, regardless of where they live, or persons living in the same household, whether related or not) of Sponsor and its respective parent company, divisions, affiliates, contractors, subsidiaries, distributors, sales representatives, retailers, advertising and promotion agencies, and any others engagement in the development, production, execution or distribution of this Promotion are not eligible.
Note that nothing in the rules indicate that the contest is only open to those who do not support Donald Trump.
“Part of the great thing about this country is having freedom of speech,” Freeman told the Eagle, further stating that she did not erase the Trump post.
“I said the same thing to Kat,” she added. “I was like, ‘You can say whatever you want to say and you shouldn’t filter comments based on who I support. It doesn’t bother me.’ ”
“It’s definitely bigotry – it’s everything that they’re calling us, they’re doing,” she said. “It’s a huge case of hypocrisy.”
Freeman says she has used Kat Von D products for years, but will likely stop doing so now and intends to contact Sephora, which sells the product line, about the incident.
https://twitter.com/Russell40507562/status/889124342445076485
https://twitter.com/ReaMon1815/status/889118569102966784
Good question.
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