Alix Earle Addresses Past Racist Comments, Trademarking Claims

Social media character Alix Earle has addressed latest claims about her trademarking offensive feedback she beforehand made on Askfm.

In a press release shared on her Instagram story on Monday, Earle admitted she had repeatedly used a racial slur on the question-and-answer web site in 2014. She apologized for making these feedback.

“A few weeks in the past, screenshots surfaced from my previous ask.fm account exhibiting me utilizing a slur in the summertime of 2014,” Earle wrote. “I’m taking accountability and wish to make it clear that I used to be 13 years previous and didn’t perceive the deeply offensive which means behind that phrase. That’s no excuse for utilizing that phrase in any context or at any age. That’s completely not the best way I communicate or what I stand for.”

She continued: “I’m deeply sorry that my phrases have harm many and have led folks to imagine that I’ve any prejudice in my coronary heart. I promise you that would not be farther from the reality.”

Screenshots of those offensive feedback — which have been posted on the “Alix Earle Snark” web page on Reddit in 2023 — resurfaced on platforms like TikTok and different subreddits this month. After they appeared on a subreddit named after the “Do We Know Them?” podcast hosted by Jessi Smiles and Lily Marston, Earle’s authorized staff allegedly contacted the 2 hosts.

“Her lawyer contacted us and stated that we now have violated their copyright,” Smiles stated within the Aug. 12 episode of the “Do We Know Them?” podcast. “Folks posted screenshots of [her racist posts] in our subreddit, and her lawyer stated that they’ve a trademark to that,” she added.

Smiles famous that she and Marston don’t have any affiliation with that subreddit, saying, “We don’t average it, we don’t have any entry to it.”

In her assertion, Earle responded to the claims that she trademarked these older posts to forestall others from sharing them, calling them “completely ridiculous and unfaithful.”

“Within the absence of my addressing this, my silence allowed others to fill the void with rumors that merely aren’t true,” Earle wrote.

“I remorse how I dealt with this example, permitting too many individuals to speak me out of claiming one thing for too lengthy,” Earle added. “I wasn’t positive the best way to deal with it and sadly the recommendation I used to be given, though effectively supposed, was incorrect. There isn’t a one guilty however myself for not standing my floor and going with my intestine to talk straight away.”

On Monday night, “Do We Know Them?” hosts Smiles and Marston shared a joint assertion with Selection relating to the e-mail they obtained from an entity claiming to signify Earle.

“Whereas we can not communicate to the legitimacy or existence of any emblems or copyrights, we will affirm that we obtained an electronic mail from an entity figuring out itself as WEB SHERIFF,” the assertion reads. “This entity claimed to behave because the rights agent for Alix Earle, and had written the e-mail to inform us of 11 totally different alleged infringements and violations. The e-mail was signed by John E. Henehan LL.B., who asserted underneath penalty of perjury that he’s ‘both the mental property rights proprietor or approved to behave on behalf of the homeowners of the unique rights which might be allegedly infringed.’”

The podcast hosts additionally commented on Earle’s response to the trademarking claims, saying: “Based mostly on Alix’s assertion, the implication is that this electronic mail was despatched with out her data or authorization. If that’s the case, whereas unlucky and out of her management, it might actually be in her greatest curiosity to make clear that to set the file straight.”

Learn Smiles and Marston’s full assertion beneath:

Whereas we can not communicate to the legitimacy or existence of any emblems or copyrights, we will affirm that we obtained an electronic mail from an entity figuring out itself as WEB SHERIFF. This entity claimed to behave because the rights agent for Alix Earle, and had written the e-mail to inform us of 11 totally different alleged infringements and violations. The e-mail was signed by John E. Henehan LL.B., who asserted underneath penalty of perjury that he’s “both the mental property rights proprietor or approved to behave on behalf of the homeowners of the unique rights which might be allegedly infringed.”

The e-mail referenced a consumer created publish on a fan-run subreddit for our podcast, a web page over which we now have no authorship or management. The publish in query, linked inside the electronic mail, featured screenshots of Earle’s unfavorable previous feedback on AskFM, which had already been circulating on-line. The e-mail purports that this publish is responsible of a laundry listing of violations together with however not restricted to Copyright Infringement, Human Rights Violations, and Proceeds of Crime and Cash Laundering Violations. 

It’s necessary to notice that we obtained this discover regardless of each publish on the subreddit that includes a clearly seen disclaimer stating that we’re on no account affiliated with the subreddit or any of its content material. In reality, we have been unaware of the existence of the publish in query previous to receiving this electronic mail notification.

Based mostly on Alix’s assertion, the implication is that this electronic mail was despatched with out her data or authorization. If that’s the case, whereas unlucky and out of her management, it might actually be in her greatest curiosity to make clear that to set the file straight.