For Millennials. By Millennials.
A YouTuber by the name of Swoop (real name Spankie Valentine) has released an expose video on Mykie, aka Glam&Gore. Spankie has shared personal instances of how Mykie was racist against her using multiple microaggressions. Spankie (Swoop) also talked about how Mykie used to trash-talk Jeffree Star and James Charles. Whenever Spankie tried to come to Mykie about her problems, especially her dealing with racism, Mykie would often shift the conversation and claim that white people have it harder.
We’ll go through all the experiences that Swoop felt one by one.
The racist Twitter past of Mykie
Spankie Valentine shares her story that whenever she came to Mykie to speak on her personal experiences of racism, Mykie constantly shifted the conversation. Mykie, aka Glam&Gore, would often victimize herself and went so far as to claim that white people have it worse too.
Mykie claimed that BIPOC (people of color) and the LGBTQ+ community get more hand-outs and advantages in the beauty industry simply for being people of color and LGBTQ+.
There were some tweets by Mykie that Swoop added to her video:
When someone called out Mykie for her definition and explained to her that cultural appropriation could also be racism, she still defended herself:
Moreover, Mykie would often dismiss racism and prejudice around her and say that everyone is just finding reasons to be outraged about something:
Mykie also believed that White people also deal with racism
Mykie shared that white people also have to deal with racism, even though Swoop kept trying to explain that that is discrimination, not racism.
To this, Swoop, aka Spankie Valentine, clarified her stance to educate Mykie on how she was in the wrong:
I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve gone to a makeup store or any store looked around and saw oh joy they didn’t hire one single person of color. This has been society’s way of telling us not that, ‘We can’t help you’. That ‘We won’t help you’. So, when a woman of color walks into a store and sees no representation, she’s once again being told, ‘We don’t care about you’. But instead of maybe empathizing with that you [Mykie] take publicly to Twitter to accuse women of color of being racist against you.
Glam&Gore would often stick to her stance and share that she had experienced racism as a white person:
To this, Swoop again explained why Mykie was incorrect in her views:
Racism equals power plus prejudice. Take two seconds to research and you’ll learn that the idea of race was invented by white people in the 17th 18th century to justify the forcible enslavement of african people by separating and saying white people are more valuable and more human than black people. Like it was written in the constitution that were three-fifths a human. By categorizing us by race, white people invented a system of power. A system that you Mykie have benefited from your entire life. So, no you are not the victim here. Now can you experience prejudice sure, discrimination uh-huh. But racism. I’m sorry you’re gonna have to sit this one out.
Swoop also explained the depths of racism that she has faced that Mykie never would and never will as an influencer
You don’t have to think about your color every single day of your lif like we do. Like I want to ask her like have you ever been told to bleach your n-word skin or die because you’re just trying to be white but you’ll never measure up? Because I have. Have you been told by brands not to wear your hair natural because it looks ghetto and they won’t hire you? Because I have. Have you been told to take your monkey looking ass back to africa? Because I have. I’ve sent you those screen grabs but you continually ignore that.
Plus, Mykie would often trash-talk with Swoop. The main discussion topics were other beauty gurus in the beauty world of YouTube. That would lead to them trash-talking about James Charles and Jeffree Star.
Mykie would not understand how Swoop being black affected her career
This leads us to Mykie’s text conversations with Swoop. Whenever Swoop would say that her being Black was affecting the growth and success of her YouTube beauty channel.
In response, Mykie often said things like these which Spankie deemed as ‘gaslighting.’
She also added nice comments, but Swoop pointed out that Mykie would never acknowledge the true racism that Black content creators have to deal with and would often shift the conversation to her own self:
While explaining that BIPOC and LGBTQ communities get more advantages for simply being part of those communities, Mykie would be trash-talking James Charles and Jeffree Star. Spankie added that Mykie was also doing YouTube collaborations with them on their channels.
Mykie’s incorrect beliefs of Hollywood preferring Whites more
Then Mykie went on to say that even Hollywood is now preferring non-white people to work in the industry more than white people:
I think I mentioned this but Peter [Mykie’s then boyfriend] has heard from several actor friends of his that they’re been turned down repeatedly for rolse because they’re essentially too white. That Hollywood is mostly only looking for ethnically ambigious now.
During this part of the video, Swoop researched and shared with the audience that whites are still in most of Hollywood.
Lead Actors in a film role, 20 of them are minorities, 80 are white. If we talk about film directors, the ones in charge of the films. 12 are minorities meaning 88 are white. And when we talk about film writer, the ones who are writing all of the stories that we go and ingest. 8 of them are minorities. Meaning 92 of all film writers are white.
Swoop did try to persuade her to see the other side of the story using this:
I kinda wish but…the overwhelming majority of successful and largely pushed creators still are white. Still what’s predominatnt on all media, authority, casting, and what’s celebrated as beauty. Most of the recognition for color comes with the caveat of “hey look at us we’re being inclusive” which is not inclusive then.
Mykie would again change the conversation to herself:
Spankie Valentine responded to this, airing out her frustrations with Glam and Gore’s words:
I don’t know how tone deaf, how blind, how entitled someone has to be when a minority comes to them and says, ‘This is so much harder for us’. Because that is fact. That is the reality that we live in. I don’t know what kind of person flips it and says,’ No, no, no, actually it’s much harder. It’s much worse if you’re white because minorities the lgbtq plus community [are] being handed our opportunities. Implying that our success, if we ever managed to get it, must be because it was handed to us. Not because we have worked for it.
Swoop called Mykie’s behavior as being in the category of microaggressive racism. Such conversations would lead to Swoop being unable, to be honest with Mykie.
The time when Mykie made Rihanna-inspired makeup, belittling trauma and abuse of Black women.
She made a bruised beat up face tutorial and called it the rihanna inspired makeup tutorial. Rihanna, who was violently beat up in the face, Mykie made that a makeup tutorial. And to make it worse in the video she said something to the effect of ‘lol you’re hot I’d hit that’. – I don’t understand making jokes about a black battered woman. Domestic violence is not something you joke about for a makeup tutorial.
Spankie Valentine then explains that Mykie profited from that video because it was monetized and did have ads.
There was also another instance where Mykie made a make-up look inspired by a beat-up Asian man.
You guys remember the American airline incident where an Asian man was brutally beat up by authorities and dragged off the flight. She decided to turn his beat up bloody face into a makeup tutorial. And then she somehow called it a satire.
Swoop also explains that Mykie was still defending making that video.
When I was hanging out with her. She brought it up and she was still defending it. And so annoyed that she had to apologize which tells me again she has not changed.
How she didn’t credit a black content creator
Swoop further shared her story of how Mykie used an idea for her YouTube video that a Black content creator already had done.
When she posted it, she did not credit him. His fans informed the black creator of this, and he pointed this out to her on Twitter. And Mykie responded rather rudely and still has not credited him.
When Kenneth shared the tweet to ask her for credit subtly, she said this:
Then later, Mykie shared her frustration with Kenneth with Swoop:
Spankie Valentine believes that Mykie only didn’t credit him because he was a more minor content creator. At the same time, Spankie called out Mykie’s hypocrisy whenever she got mad that big YouTubers didn’t credit her when they took her ideas.
Performative activism by Mykie
Many people were sharing their opinions online when the Black Lives Matter movement was happening. Many influencers and celebrities were vehemently supporting the BLM movement.
When Glam and Gore, aka Mykie, did so, she pointed out that after she did so, she lost many followers. Along with other white influencers.
Mykie added that her losing those followers was a badge of honor for her.
Swoop added in, saying that Mykie and other white influencers aren’t sharing the stats but are also gaining followers at the same time. So, their supporting the BLM movement on Twitter ultimately benefited their business as well.
Swoop didn’t understand why they didn’t also add the influx of new followers.
How Mykie and Swoop’s friendship ultimately ended
Swoop would often try to hold on to her reality and her truth. And she would try to share that picture with Mykie. Mykie would often not respond and ghost her. At one point, Spankie defended YouTubers such as James Charles and Jeffree Star. Pointing out that their fame isn’t because of them being LGBTQ members.
After Mykie didn’t respond, Spankie felt terrible and sent her long paragraphs trying to agree with her and be supportive and encouraging. But Mykie only messaged her when Swoop made this tweet:
As per Swoop, Mykie texted her after this:
Spankie Valentine shared her true thoughts on the matter, stating that Glam and Gore would not do this with other big white YouTubers:
I can’t imagine she’d ever go to James Charles or Jeffree star or NikkieTutorials. And tell them to publicly denounce comments on their platforms that she doesn’t like. So, if I had five to ten million subscribers would she be pressuring me on this? I don’t think so.
Spankie felt that she was not valued in their friendship
Swoop also added that she had tried asking Mykie about how she was doing before this, but Mykie had not responded.
Spankie furthermore shared:
She had made it clear on several occasions that my time apparently wasn’t as valuable as hers and I’ve tried to talk to her in the past about how much she confuses me. But she wouldn’t listen so I took a pause and I didn’t reply for a few days and when I did. I got no response.
Spankie did try to reach out to her multiple times, even congratulating her on her new relationship with Anthony Padilla. But Mykie wouldn’t respond.
Glam&Gore’s ex-boyfriend, Peter, reached out to Spankie to clear out some confusion
After this, Swoop focused on her own YouTube channel and released the film ‘Upworthy.’ Upworthy was about her and her family’s personal experience with racism. The day it was released, Mykie’s ex-boyfriend, Peter, messaged Swoop and asked her this:
Swoop shared that this only happened because she added a line in her film ‘Upworthy’ about a white influencer friend of her being a fake ally.
Spankie didn’t respond to Peter.
Further, Swoop believed that this was something Mykie probably asked him to do since many of the phrases in Peter’s messages were similar to hers.
Every time I tried to talk about my color. Whe immediately flipped it on me to make herself the victim of racism. And I remember that you [Peter] were the one that told her your white actor friends can’t get hired in hollywood because minorities are getting all of the jobs. And how several times she weaponized that against me in order to make it sound like white people have it harder.
The last straw for Swoop
After this incident, Swoop shared a personal story about her own sexual assault that she faced with Ron Jeremy. She posted it on Twitter, and immediately after posting it, Mykie texted her.
Now I do want to point out at the end of the thread where I was opening up about my assault. I spoke to the movement. I said I’m tired of the continual excuses being made for people who use abuse, manipulate, exploit, and, harm other people. Be it se*ual assault, abuse, racism, or any form of oppression. I’m done living in the shadows hiding my voice for the sake of not conflicting with others reputations. It’s their shame not mine.
After this, Mykie texted her:
I saw your tweet about ron jeremy. I hope you’ve been doing as okay as one could be with everything going on.
Spankie Valentine says she did not respond to this because Mykie hadn’t previously responded to her messages. Swoop was sure that Mykie only messaged her because Swoop added in her assault thread about not being silent anymore.
Now I didn’t respond to this. Because I don’t need you suddenly sliding in my messages to talk about my s*xual assault. As if i’m supposed to believe that you care. The only reason that I got a message was because of what I said at the end of those tweets. That I’m not gonna hide my voice anymore about this stuff. I think she was just scared that I might start talking about what happened with her, racism, manipulation, abuse.
Swoop still didn’t respond, and after that last text message, Mykie texted her again, asking if she could retweet her story:
I’d like to retweet to share it if it would help more people to see it. In any case, I’m here if you need to talk. I’m always here to listen.
Swoop shared that she did not trust Mykie anymore. Mainly when she ignored her for months during the pandemic and the civil rights movement.
That was the final end of their friendship.