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Influencer Alix Earle took to her Instagram stories on Monday, August 26, 2024, to address her repeatedly using a racial slur on the question-and-answer website ASKfm in 2014. Along with apologizing for her insensitive comments, she also clarified claims of her trademarking her offensive statements.
"I am taking accountability and want to make it clear that I was 13 years old and did not understand the deeply offensive meaning behind that word. That is no excuse for using that word in any context or at any age. That absolutely is not the way I speak or what I stand for,” Earle wrote.
On August 13, 2024, the Do We Know Them? podcast hosts Jessi Smiles and Lily Marston alleged that Alix Earle’s legal team threatened to sue them after a Reddit forum related to the podcast shared Earle’s racist ASKfm posts. They claimed on the podcast that they received an email allegedly from Earle’s team, despite the podcast hosts stating multiple times that they have no affiliation with the Reddit forum.
As per Smiles, Earle’s legal team claimed that they violated “a dozen laws” ranging from “money laundering” to copyright infringement after the Reddit forum shared the racist screenshots. Smiles also said on the podcast,
“Her lawyer said that they have a trademark to that [the screenshots].”
For those uninitiated, a netizen shared multiple ASKfm screenshots of Alix Earle using the N-word in the summer of 2014 on her Alixxxxxx account on the r/DoWeKnowThemPodcast subreddit. In one ASKfm post, a netizen asked Earle, “Why did you say bye bye Annie?” Earle responded by saying, “Take a joke n**ga”
In another ASKfm post, a netizen asked Earle, “with who,” to which the latter responded, “My n**ga.”
"There is no one to blame but myself" — Alix Earle addresses 2014 ASKfm responses in Instagram story
In an Instagram story, the 23-year-old apologized for using the N-word in the ASKfm posts and told her followers that she did not want people to believe that she holds any prejudice against any community.
“I regret how I handled this situation, allowing too many people to talk me out of saying something for too long. I wasn’t sure how to handle it and unfortunately the advice I was given, although well intended, was wrong. There is no one to blame but myself for not standing my ground and going with my gut to speak out right away,” Earle said.
The University of Miami graduate also clarified that she did not have her racist posts trademarked.
“Another is that a brand announced they are no longer working with me, even though we have never been in conversations with them about a partnership in any capacity.”
Alix Earle also apologized for other ASKfm posts where she said, “Umm n**ga y do u care” and her simply saying “N**ga” in another post.
It is worth noting that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has only recognized Alix Earle trademarking her own name. However, there is no other proof that she has trademarked any specific social media post.
