Beauty influencer Bretman Rock suggests he left community because of 'white people'
Beauty influencer Bretman Rock has said he left the community because of 'white people'.
Rock, who became Playboy's first ever gay male cover model, first rose to fame on YouTube and Vine after one of his contouring videos went viral in 2015.
Since then, he's built an online empire, amassing millions of followers on social media and even starring in his own reality TV show, MTV's Following: Bretman Rock.
Though much of his fame is down to his beauty influencing, Rock made the decision to move away from the industry.
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In a video shared in 2021, he explained why, stating: "Honestly, it's not that I stopped wearing make-up.
"It's the fact that I stopped doing make-up content, and it's because I don't want to be tied with the beauty community anymore.
"I am not a beauty guru, I am f**king more than that."
Rock sat down with Them for the latest episode of the outlet's video series Becoming in which he reflected on his career.
Addressing the 2021 announcement, he explained: "The girls were not happy with this video. Ultimately, I said what I said and I meant what I said.
"White people ruined the community."
The influencer, of Filipino descent, continued: "When I first started the beauty industry, I fell in love with the creators.
"And it made me want to do what I wanted to do, which was literally just share make-up and share my confidence with the world.
"Share people how to grow their eyebrows back, share people how to contour, share to people my new favourite foundation.
"I don't know why it got lost in translation when non-coloured individuals were coming in and it just became a money industry and it just became an ick to me.
"Like ugh, when did beauty become so ugly?"
The 24-year-old went on to question why people 'don't know how to apologise', which some fans have taken as a reference to the controversies surrounding white beauty influencers such as Jeffree Star and James Charles.
"It's as simple as addressing what you did, saying sorry and never doing it again," added Rock. "But you b*****s are gonna cry, make up excuses, not say sorry and still do the s*** you say."
He's not wrong in highlighting some of the issues facing the beauty sector in recent years, with Jeffree Star being just one of many influencers who were called out in 2018 after fans unearthed offensive tweets made by popular figures.
Gabriel Zamora, Manny 'MUA' Gutierrez, Nikita Dragun and Laura Lee were all accused of being racist as the tweets came to light in what is now called 'Dramageddon'.
As for James Charles, he was called out and accused of victim blaming in 2021 for his apology video after two people under the age of 18 came forward with claims that they had inappropriate conversations with the YouTuber over social media.
With so much drama going on, it seems Rock has had enough of it.
Topics: Beauty, Social Media, Racism, Celebrity
Daisy Phillipson