TikTok influencer Addison Rae claims that she's been fired from a UFC reporting job as a result of the backlash she received for landing the gig in the first place.
Per The Independent, the 20-year-old social media star seemingly drew criticism from journalists, pundits, and members of the general public when she announced she's been hired as an anchor for the Ultimate Fighting Championships.
In a post shared with her 4.8 million followers on Twitter on Saturday, July 10, Rae uploaded two side-by-side pictures of herself at a UFC event holding a mic.
She wrote jokingly: "I studied broadcast journalism in college for 3 whole months to prepare for this moment" - in a reference to her brief tenure as a student in broadcast journalism while attending Louisiana State University.
Rae's post quickly picked up some negative attention from a vocal minority after racking up over 78,000 likes and a further 13,000 comments from other Twitter users, at the time of writing.
One person wrote: "so you are taking away the opportunity for people who actually need this job while you have all this 'fame'' if you can even call it that way cuz it comes from f***ing 15 second videos. very nice. [sic]"
Another penned: "Stealing jobs from those more deserving, very classy."
Then this user added: "And to think that many people work day and night to pay for a university degree and for you to come and take away the job without seeing all the suffering of each journalism student.
"LMAOO Money fixes everything, I wish I had money and fame. [sic]"
While another added: "Wow. 3 long months. must have been rough surely you're qualified [sic]"
Finally, this person chimed in: "I can’t tell you how many talented and hardworking journalists I’ve watched not get opportunities because they don’t have 'the camera looks' it’s unbelievable."
Several hours later, Rae appeared to state that she had lost the position as a result of the poor feedback to her previous post, writing simply: "[never mind] y’all got me fired."
Despite this, Deadline has since reported that Rae was not actually an official UFC hire and had only interviewed one particular fighter who hailed from her hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana.
