Photo: Getty Images
A London-based jewelry company is catching heat after allegedly altering a reposted photo of a Black creator's hand, making it look like a white woman's.
TikToker Nylah Akua accused Janeen Jewellery of editing her friend and fellow creator Chazlyn Yvonne's picture, which shows herself and others wearing jewelry from different brands, including Janeen. The company reportedly reposted an altered version of the photo on Instagram, where Yvonne's hand appears white.
“I shouldn’t have been shocked. A lot of whitewashing and racism,” Akua said in the video. She also claims Yvonne commented on the post, but it was deleted by the company.
"They’re a bunch of cowards. They didn’t want to address it," Akua continued. "There’s no accountability."
Janeen Jewellery has since deleted the post. According to Black Enterprise, the brand claimed in a now-deleted statement that a filter changed Yvonne's skin tone. Another TikTok captured part of this post, which included Yvonne's original image:
“We love all colors and we are united. On our previous post we had use filter to this photo just to match our feed aesthetic," part of the statement reads. The rest wasn't revealed.
Angry social media users still took issue with Janeen Jewellery since the reposted photo was slightly lighter, and they never apologized for the whitewashed image.
The company has since private its TikTok account and has yet to make another public statement about the controversy.
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