‘When Did Makeup Become Political?’ Sephora Bows To the Trolling Mob

February 3rd, 2021 9:25 AM

With 1.4 million YouTube subscribers and nine years of influencer experience, Amanda Ensing seemed like a great partner for Sephora -- until leftist Trolls disagreed.

On January 29, beauty influencer and YouTuber Amanda Ensing posted a sponsored video for the French makeup company Sephora. But after some complaints about Ensing’s support of Trump and conservatism, the company threatened to cancel the contract. 

The random internet troll @raysour accused Ensing of being a “supporter of the dangerous MAGA group” and blamed Sephora for its association with her. Sephora responded positively to with the following statement: 

Thank you for reaching out and bringing this to our attention. We were made aware that Amanda Ensing, an influencer contracted through one of our external vendors’ campaigns, recently shared content on social media that is not aligned with Sephora’s values around inclusivity. As soon as we were informed, we made the decision to cease all programming with Amanda and will not be engaging her for future partnerships.

The social media content that Sephora references are Ensing’s Jan 6 tweets shortly after the capitol riots. Although admittedly her tweets were very poorly timed, she never incited or condoned the violence.

In fact, she publicly condemned the riots two days later to clear up any confusion about the sentiment of her previous tweets.

In a video posted to Ensing’s Instagram page, she explains that she negotiated the contract with a vendor called rewardStyle. When she finalized the contract it contained a strange clause stating that the sponsorship could be canceled if she tainted her name in any way.  As an outspoken Christian and conservative, Ensing specifically asked the vendor if Sephora could guarantee and uphold “an influencer’s right to use their voice.” RewardStyle reassured that they “do not discriminate against any political or religious group” and that the clause is only intended to apply to “extreme situations such as violence or hate speech.” Incidentally, the companies only cared to qualify Ensing’s tweets as violence or hate speech 23 days after the fact. 

Ensing claims she feels “silenced” and like Sephora gave her “false hope” of protection against discrimination since all of the troll complaints have been about her beliefs and not her character. “I mean people have mocked my religion, my faith, my political views, smeared me, called me terrible names. I am none of those things all because I think differently from them” she said. 

She also pointed out that the brand’s choice to single her out not only alienates her but also conservatives who work in their stores and buy their products. “How do you think all of your conservative customers and employees are feeling right now after seeing everything that you are doing to me and how you are speaking to me and about me online?” she said. “Do you think that conservatives don’t buy your makeup, don’t wear makeup, are we not worthy because you said we don’t align with your values of ‘inclusivity?’”

Conservatives have already begun denouncing Sephora as #BoycottSephora picked up traction on Twitter over the weekend and Ensing has received an overwhelmingly positive response from newfound subscribers and followers. 

Sephora’s cancellation of Ensing is yet another reminder that cancel culture does not work on passionate conservatives. It only intensifies their commitment to protecting their constitutional freedoms.