White Influencers Appearing Black Is the Instagram Trend No One Asked For

According to BuzzFeed, the influencer self-identifies as white—which she has confirmed to others on social media (Glamour has reached out for comment and will update when we've heard back).

For example, after an old Snapchat photo resurfaced of her explaining how she got her hair wavy, Hallberg shared that she sleeps with braids in her hair to achieve this wavy look. And after old images surfaced when her skin was noticeably lighter, she was approached by another Instagram user asking if she was white and why her skin used to look so much lighter. She responded, "Yes, I'm white and I never claimed to be anything else." She also went on to explain that those "before" pictures were taken after summer, where she gets the same tan every year.

“It made me sad that some of my natural features are hurting and upsetting people. It also made me upset and scared that I can’t look the way I look naturally, without receiving false accusations, hate, and threats,” she told BuzzFeed.“I do not have any specific intentions other than [to] show my passion for makeup and fashion.”

Unfortunately, Hallberg isn't the only white woman who has been recently called out for the same act. Another Twitter thread started to shed light on several white influencers appearing to co-opt black features. Most of them aren't from the U.S., where appropriation often gets lost in historical context, but nonetheless, with easy access to the Internet and the global conversations that take place around blackface, it's no excuse.