Sarah’s Day, cultural appropriation: Fitness star 'heartbroken' after backlash

An Aussie influencer said she is “getting full on death threats” after her apology over controversial hairstyle stoked more backlash.

Influencer Sarah Stevenson has hit back at the fallout over her response to claims of cultural appropriation, denying she is “playing the victim”.

Last week Sarah — known by her YouTube handle Sarah’s Day — pulled her campaign for a new activewear line after backlash to the hairstyle she was wearing.

The 27-year-old Sydneysider was accused of cultural appropriation for wearing her hair in two colourful braids in videos and imagery that were part of a promotional campaign for Sydney fashion brand White Fox Boutique.

However despite at the time apologising and saying she was “heartbroken” for offending anyone, over the weekend Sarah was forced to address the controversy again after backlash to her response.

Sarah has denied she is ‘playing the victim’ over the controversy.

After her initial apology Sarah shared several posts about how she had to rush to reshoot the campaign and her upset at having to start from scratch.

In one post she said she “nearly cried” getting her hair done for the photo shoot as she was “scared to do anything wrong and upset people”.

In a video posted to her Instagram on Saturday Sarah slammed those were sending her abusive messages over her response to the controversy.

The YouTuber said she was “walking on egg shells right now” and afraid to express how she was feeling over the episode.

“I’m getting full on hate death threats to me and Fox. It’s brutal … I know 99 per cent of you follow me because you love me, but that one per cent – they’re crazy,” she said.

Sarah said the reshoot had been “such a stressful day” and the whole episode had left her questioning whether “am I ever going to feel normal again”.

“I’m not playing the victim, but I’m feeling very fragile,” she said.

Sarah said she had received threats to her and son Fox.

‘DISRESPECTFUL AND CONCERNING’

Last week Sarah excitedly wrote on Instagram about how she “can't wait” to release her new activewear range while sharing a sneak peek with fans.

But soon the post, which has since been deleted, attracted hundreds of comments slamming the influencer over her hairstyle in the campaign.

As the backlash to her look grew Sarah was also slammed for deleting comments that criticised her sporting a hairstyle that “screams cultural appropriation”.

“Your lack of awareness and belief that you can just delete comments of people trying to educate you is disrespectful and concerning,” one person wrote.

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Fans were offended by Sarah’s braid hairstyle in imagery for her new activewear collection.

The influencer said she is now “scared” to offend people further by wearing the wrong hairstyle.

In a series of videos posted to her Instagram with her fiance Kurt Tilde on Thursday, Sarah said she would previously “always wear two braids” without realising it was cultural appropriation.

“I just get sad if I make anyone upset you know,” she tearfully admitted.

“My whole channel and everything I do is making you happy and empowering everyone and anyway.

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Sarah said she was ‘heartbroken’ her hairstyle had offended people.

“I don't want you to feel sorry for me, I just get really anxious and shaky if I make people sad, and I hate conflict.”

Sarah said she was “not making excuses or trying to justify” and had gotten her inspiration for the braids from photos of people sporting the hairstyle at Coachella.

“Not once did I even think about cultural appropriation,” she said. “If that even crossed my mind I wouldn't have done it because you guys know I hate conflict, I hate controversy.”

After receiving the backlash a “heartbroken” Sarah said she had spoken to White Fox Boutique, with both agreeing the campaign should be reshot.

The influencer said the boutique were now pulling the current campaign.

“I just feel bad for everyone who's offended, but also Kurt and the White Fox team who put hours and hours of work into the prep,” she said.

“I'm so sorry, I screwed up, I was misinformed, uneducated. I'm doing my best now to educate myself and use my platform.”

Sarah also shared a written apology on her Instagram, writing that it “genuinely breaks my heart that I could ever offend anyone”.

‘I’M SO SCARED TO DO ANYTHING WRONG’

After posting her apologies, Sarah shared on Instagram that she and the online fashion retailer were now “scrambling" to reshoot the campaign with her hair styled into just one blonde braid.

The influencer said she was upset and feeling drained over the prospect of having to start from scratch.

“This campaign has just really tested us emotionally, it's been so full on, and just to scrap it all was just crazy. Three months nearly of work was just erased today,” she said in one story.

Sarah said she was ‘scared’ of offending people further.

She was also upset at having to reshoot months of work.

Sarah's decision to pull the campaign got a mixed response on Instagram, with some fans questioning whether it meant “white women can't braid their hair”.

“Oh my goodness when did the world become so sensitive,” one person wrote.

However others pointed out that Sarah did the “right thing” by apologising and acknowledging the cultural meaning behind the hairstyle.

In the new campaign Sarah wore her hair in one plait.

“Anyone who is white who are saying wow can't believe they made her apologise y'all need to check yourself,” one person wrote.

Sarah did the right think by recognising a mistake. It is appropriation (because it is) based on the style of the brad and adding extensions – the style came from the black community as a way to maintain and keep their hair healthy."

“Blacks and POC (people of colour) get ridiculed and don't get jobs based on their hair even NOW, so when a white person does it and gets applauded … that's the problem,” another commenter said.