A tanning addict has found herself at the center of a race row, after being accused of 'blacking up' online.
Chloe Wilson, a make-up artist from Newcastle, England, took to Twitter this week to defend herself after people on the internet named her "racist" for having a deep tan.
The social media star, who boasts almost 300,000 followers on Instagram, was plagued with criticism in the comment section of photos.
This 'tan addict' was also accused by others of blackfacing due to her dark complexion:Instagrammer @andreawlsn threatened to report Chloe to the platform for blackface, writing: "She’s doing this for clout because black outrage is the ‘new trend’ y’all want ALL the benefits of being black. the lips, the butt, the COMPLEXION especially but none of the pain and anguish. ✌?[sic]"
"U r not even black wtf [sic]," added @leiylita, followed by @rainingapathy who asked: "Deleted my comment about you having black face huh?"
However, the make-up artist has insisted she is not racist and simply loves tanning. Turning to Twitter, she told her critics to "f*** off" and claimed she never intended to cause offense.
"Oh f**k off with calling me racist because I’ve tanned on the sunbed," she wrote. "I’ve lit just bought about 3 bottles of factor 50 cos now am scared to tan on ma holiday. I’m not doing this again [sic]".
She then apologised saying: "Also, I’m sorry if me tanning on a sunbed has caused offence, it was never intended, [sic]" before blasting the people making claims about her online as "cruel".
"Can I also just add, to all those people saying what I’m doing is cruel, vile, offensive..." she wrote, "you are all literally slating me in tweets. I never ever wanted to hurt or offend anyone, however you have all purposely wanted to offend and be cruel to me. Says more about you... Now I’m gonna go enjoy my holiday in the shade. Goodbye c [sic]".
Chloe's sentiments were supported by dozens of people online, who insisted they saw no blackface, a practice that gained popularity in the 19th century when white actors would use black grease paint on their faces to depict black people on stage, but has since been accepted as grossly offensive and racist.
"How tf is this black face? Girl you look beautiful ? [sic]," wrote Instagrammer jade.amy1.
"I always thought that the origins of blackface meant it was offensive because it was done by white people to mock black people - it was intended to be funny. This girl here isn’t trying to be funny. She’s using make up and tan because she thinks it makes her look nice. She’s not trying to make fun or mock anyone [sic]," added samhale85-.
Of course, Chloe is not the only person recently accused of tanning to look like a different race; Hannah Tittensor, 22, a beauty therapy student from Belfast, Northern Ireland, was charged with 'blackfishing' by people online in March.
