Emma Chamberlain might be the internet’s “It Girl,” but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t made some mistakes during her time in the spotlight. The YouTube star, 21, opened up about some of her past controversies, fan backlash and dealing with hate during an interview with Rolling Stone. Keep reading for what she said.
Why Did Emma Chamberlain Receive Fan Backlash?
Emma has endured several controversies since her rise to fame, for example, photos of her pulling back her eyes in the manner of the TikTok “fox-eye” trend was viewed as insensitive to Asian people. In another instance, Emma was accused of blackface after wearing too dark of a foundation shade during a resurfaced makeover parody video she posted years prior.
Most recently, in March 2023, a Twitter user posted a screenshot of an advertisement from Emma’s online store, which included a “Personal Thank You Note From Emma in Instagram DM!” for $10,000. Internet users immediately exploded over the outrageous price, which her merch and PR team quickly explained was an internal test and that Emma knew nothing about it.
“I’ve had multiple falling-outs of grace,” she told Rolling Stone in April 2023. “That’s really hard for me, because if I intended to do something that was wrong or hurtful, f–king go off, tell me what’s up. I’m not a perfect person. Have I f–ked up? Hell yes, I’ve f–ked up. But there were a lot of times when things that I did maybe got taken out of context, twisted into [their] own narrative. And you feel out of control of your identity. I’m being generous by saying this shit has f–ked with me on a mental level in so many ways.”
On top of that, being popular on the internet often comes with its fair share of setbacks. Every so often, Emma deals with waves of hate from internet users where they determine that she doesn’t deserve her popularity, poking holes in her online presence and personality.
“There was just this public, unanimous decision that I was now annoying, cringe, all this. And I was getting hated on just for being me,” Emma told the outlet about when she first became famous on YouTube. “Being hated in your school is one thing; you can go to a different school. Being hated on the internet is the whole f–king world. You can’t go anywhere. Talk about an existential crisis when there’s nowhere to hide.”
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