Model Carissa Pinkston has come under fire after she says she lied about being transgender following the unearthing of transphobic remarks she made on Facebook in May.
Pinkston — who has modelled for Rihanna‘s lingerie line Savage x Fenty, Marc Jacobs and Prabal Gurung — was fired from her agency, Elite Models, after the posts she made in May under the name Rissa Danielle first surfaced, Paper Mag reports.
Her modelling portfolio, once live on the agency’s site, was removed after her contract was terminated.
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Rather than publicly apologizing for the posts, the 20-year-old took to Instagram on July 22 to come out as transgender, writing: “I’m Transgender. I transitioned at a very young age and I’ve lived my Life as a Female ever since.
“It’s been very hard to keep this secret but what I said about Trans-Women is a direct reflection of my inner insecurities and I have since come to realize that I am a Woman… WE ALL ARE,” she continued. She tagged the post #lgbt.
While some praised her in the comments section, others were not quick to believe her.
Fellow model Aleece Wilson, who has worked with Pinkston in the past, commented on her coming out post.
“It’s terrible and disgusting that you’re lying to thousands of people,” she wrote, alleging in a later comment that Pinkston was “lying about being transgender.”
Less than a week later, Pinkston posted yet another note on her Instagram account, admitting that she was, indeed, lying.
She wrote that she “panicked and I thought if I came out as Trans that I could somehow make things better for myself but it appears I’ve only made things worse.”
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Only July 27, the model shared a photo she took with transgender actor Hunter Schafer, who stars in the HBO hit Euphoria, on her Instagram stories.
According to the post, Schafer, 20, no longer speaks to her.
“I hate to do this because this doesn’t concern her, but, me being ‘Transphobic’ is stupid as s–t when I love Trans people,” she wrote. “I been friends with Hunter way before all these comments and now she won’t even talk to me.”
This ordeal began rolling out following her May 23 remarks on her public Facebook account coming to light.
In the since-deleted post, she wrote: “Being Transgender does NOT make you a Woman. It makes you simply Transgender.”
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She followed this post up the next day with more clarification on her stance.
“Being Transgender does not make you a Woman in a Transgender context according to gender and not sex,” she wrote. “This how they want to be perceived. In a biological context there are Females and Males. This is the world in 2019.”
On May 26, she shared a video by David Icke, a famous conspiracy theorist, called “The Transgender Agenda Explained.”
In it, Icke argues that the supposed “agenda” silences debate, is too politically correct and has gone beyond fighting for rights and into control of the conversation. He also speaks out against feminism, saying it’s gone as far as to oppress men.
Though Rihanna and other people Pinkston has worked with have yet to publicly comment, her fans on Twitter certainly have.
One social media user pointed out that it’s not up to transgender people to educate others.
“Trans people don’t owe her any s–t. She can Google most of the info and she should have had the basic empathy beforehand to think about her friend Hunter before posting/reposting transphobic stuff,” the person wrote.
Pinkston had very few positive comments under her Instagram post, with one commending her honesty but criticizing what she’d done.
“The fact that you were honest about it in the end is appreciated but it still ain’t enough beautiful girl,” the person wrote.
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meaghan.wray@globalnews.ca
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