Camila Cabello, Slayyyter and the influence of celebrity

On December 17, rising pop sensation Camila Cabello was the subject of a Twitter expose, uncovering her problematic history of sharing posts on Tumblr with racially sensitive language. These posts were pre-fame, shared back in 2012, when she was 15. She later issued an apology, which many found to be not genuine. She claimed "ignorance" and that she has since "grown", though many say that a 15-year old should be plenty informed already, and it cannot be used as an excuse.

Just yesterday, rising pop star Slayyyter was exposed for similar issues back in 2012. For her, it was a Twitter account rather than a Tumblr and it was her own posts rather than reblogs. While this may have simply flown under the radar due to her relative obscurity, it turned out that these tweets were from a Camila Cabello stan account that she ran. She has also since apologized, which seems to have been taken a bit better than Camila's due to her addressing it specifically "for the black community", the people that this slur impacts.

As a white person, it is not my place to criticize or defend either of their actions, either in regards to the nature of the comments or their apologies. However, it does show the inherent influence of pop stars, and the necessity of celebrities to behave very carefully.

Slayyyter's comments were on a Camila Cabello stan account. Since migrating to her own account, there has been no sign of issue with her speaking in racially sensitive terms. While no one can say for sure that Camila Cabello's actions at the time specifically influenced her to use this language, it has been proven that Slayyyter pretty much worshiped Camila at the time, and that both used this language at the time.

Slayyyter dm'd Camila incessantly on Twitter, trying desperately to get a notice from her and to get her attention, and pretty much the entire focus of the account was Camila and Camila alone. These two behaviors sounds familiar to anyone who has their own stan account, but when combined with each of their use of racial slurs at the time, this takes a dark undertone. If Camila was as important a part of Slayyyter's life as this account would lead one to believe, then it is very likely that Slayyyter was modeling her own behavior off of that of Camila in an attempt to win her attention.

Camila was not a star at the time, having just started on The X Factor. Her initial audition was not even aired on live television. However, even in that infancy phase of her fame, she had a following. The moment a celebrity steps out in an attempt to gain fame, their actions matter. They are instantly acting in a public light, because even one fan is someone watching their actions. While the amount of Camila fans at the time is an unidentifiable amount, it would take a huge coincidence for an ascendant pop singer to be her only fan at the time.

This is not to say that Camila or Slayyyter or anyone who uses racially insensitive language should never be forgiven: again, it is not my place to make that call. However, the moment a singer steps out into the public, they have the potential to gain fans, and thus being "young and ignorant" is not an excuse for bad behavior. Pop stars and celebrities influence the behaviors of their fans, and if every pop star went around using racial slurs, regardless of intention, then the world would be a very bad place.