Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
A Black TikToker says she was threatened with legal action by a white model after making a video discussing the latter’s privilege in the fashion industry.
Known as Sevyn Sativa (@sevynsativa) on social media, the Black content creator’s commentary video reacted to the immediate and supportive response model Anna Gantt received on an emotional TikTok posted in October. In that post, Gantt explained she’d just left a casting because the director wanted her to look thinner and “waify” when she was already and size 4-6 and previously suffered from an eating disorder.
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Since Gantt posted her video, it’s garnered upwards of 28.7 million views and tens of thousands of comments from brands, well-known names in the industry and everyday people who all shared their support for her.
After acknowledging Gantt’s experience, Sevyn highlighted that “Women of Color, specifically Black women,” have been pointing out the issue Gantt raised in the industry for years yet are less likely to receive the attention and responses the model did. Sevyn also noted that Gantt signed a modeling deal “immediately” after the model’s video about the casting was uploaded.
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In a recent and since-deleted TikTok Gantt posted, the model said after her bad casting experience two creators on the platform had “defamed” her. The model didn’t identify the creators by name, claiming “they’re not deserving of this attention,” but said neither one of them had ever worked in the fashion industry and that they called her “fatphobic, a white supremacist [and] a racist.”
Gantt said the two creators “also invalidated a life-threatening eating disorder” she had and added that she wasn’t pursuing legal action because she’s “too f–king busy.”
In follow-up posts, Sevyn clarified that she has worked in the fashion industry and shared that Gantt has since blocked her on TikTok and is “threatening to sue” her following her commentary video.
The content creator also claimed that one of the brands that work with Gantt and one of the agencies representing the model are doing what they can to “silence” her voice as a Black woman speaking out about problems and privilege in the fashion industry.
In addition to defending herself, Sevyn argued that Gantt’s behavior “is a classic example of a white woman paying victim” and that “the victim narrative really stresses [her] out” because she never accused Gantt of being any of the things the model claimed.
Although Gantt stated she wasn’t taking any legal action, Sevyn told The Daily Dot that underneath one of her videos, the model left a now-deleted comment that said, “Not surprising you don’t mention the 2 death threats I received directly traces from your previous video. Better lawyer up.”
As of now, Sevyn says Gantt hasn’t privately contacted her regarding any legal proceedings either.
“I don’t know whats going on with that but, I do know this whole thing is ridiculous, to say the least,” Sevyn told the outlet about the whole ordeal.
Learn more about Sevyn here.
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