Model who worked with Rihanna under fire for posting transphobic comments and lying about being transgender
Model Carissa Pinkston, who previously worked for Marc Jacobs and Rihanna‘s Fenty fashion line, had a lot going for her but blew her big shot after getting caught in a lie about being trans after posting transphobic remarks.
—Rihanna makes history as first woman of color to helm own fashion line with LVMH—
Pinkston found herself in a world of trouble online when transphobic comments surfaced of the model criticizing the women and men who identify as trans.
Pinkston, who posts as Rissa Danielle, reportedly went on a rant and posted a series of offensive posts about trans individuals including one which read: “Being transgender does not make you a woman.”
She ended another post saying, “In a biological context there are females and males,” The Daily Mail reports.
Her criticism got her cut from her modeling agency Elite Model Management.
In response to the critics who blasted Pinkston for being insensitive, she tried desperately to calm the waters by creating a lie that she actually was a transgender woman who transitioned when she was young.
Pinkston wrote: “I wasn’t ready to come out about it yet, but today I got fired and I’ve been receiving hate mail and death threats ever since, so I’m being forced to tell the truth. I’m Transgender.”
“I transitioned at a very young age and I’ve lived my Life as a Female ever since,” the 20-year-old falsely claimed.
“It’s been very hard to keep this secret but what I said about Trans-Women is a direct reflection of my inner insecurities and I have since come to realize that I am a Woman…WE ALL ARE!”
Pinkston has since deleted that comment after she was called out for her lie by a former friend who cast doubt that Pinkston was trans.
“I’ve seen baby pictures of [Carissa], I’ve seen her fully naked, I’ve been around this women long enough to fully know her,” Aleece Wilson, a model who previously worked with Pinkston for a Nike campaign wrote. “We have many trans friends this conversation would have definitely been brought up.”
—RACIST PRANK: TSA workers suspended after hanging stuffed monkeys from a noose—
After she was called out, Pinkston took to social media to apologize and beg for forgiveness. She also clarified that she was indeed born female and was not trans.
“I apologize for any transphobic remark I’ve ever made towards the Trans community,” she wrote. “I panicked and I thought if I came out as Trans that I could somehow make things better for myself but it appears I’ve only made things worse.
“I’m truly sorry. I’m only 20 and I’m human. I make mistakes but I refuse to let them define me. I hope you all can forgive me and move on from this because I’m so much more than this incident and I’m not a coward.”
Pinkston also later deleted her apology.
