B. Simone breaks silence about allegations of plagiarism: ‘I’m here to fix it’
Actress/entrepreneur B. Simone has been in the crosshairs of controversy this month, most notably due to allegations that she completely plagiarized her bestselling book, “Baby Girl: Manifest the Life You Want,” from several lesser-known bloggers. Now the 30-year-old entrepreneur is breaking her silence about what went wrong.
READ MORE: Meek Mill defends B. Simone who is accused of plagiarizing book
“Y’all know me. I have been vulnerable, real, transparent, honest throughout my whole career, and this moment isn’t any different,” she began in the Instagram clip she posted Monday, which shows her bare-faced and speaking directly to her followers.
“I want to make a quick, short video and address all of the accusations surrounding my book, but because it is now a legal matter, I can only say so much. But I wouldn’t be me and I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t say anything at all. So that’s what I’m doing,” she continued.
The 30-year-old self-proclaimed ‘Manifest Queen’ then goes on to explain that her original intention was to write a book that would help young women, “change their mindset and to manifest,” the type of success she’s been able to.
“I’ve never written a book, I’ve never been an author, so as an influencer, as a creative, as an entrepreneur, me and my team outsourced,” she now admits, essentially conceding that she didn’t write the book herself. “We hired a team that we trusted that we thought could bring my vision to life. And they did a lot of things without my knowledge and I am here to fix it.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBdfn6jpLYK/
Simone then goes on to repeatedly inform her supporters that the whole mix-up is the fault of her team but that she’s taking responsibility for it, despite the fact that she personally stole from no one.
“I feel like the people I hired in my team dropped the ball, I’m taking full accountability because at the end of the day, I’m the leader. I’m the CEO, I’m the coach, so it’s my brand. I take full accountability, even though I did not know,” she went on. “I’m not going to run from this. I’m going to face it head-on. I’m learning, I’m growing every single day, every single day. My business mind is growing every day. The way I do business is growing every day. I take this as a learning experience.”
To those who feel they have been scammed, she noted that she’s “reached out to every creative involved” and that “the books have been taken down. We’re stopping all sales until this matter is black and white, clear as day. I don’t want any gray area.”
Despite this seemingly heartfelt mea culpa, there was no mention of refunds to those who already purchased the books, or to those who say they were charged for a product they never received. Some fans have also mentioned how this incident highlights a much broader issue of the more successful influencers rushing to push out products without first vetting them for quality and brand integrity.
Despite those pushbacks, the entertainer ended by reiterating, “I thank y’all for supporting me. Once again, I take full accountability, even though I did not know because why? I am the face of the brand.”
READ MORE: B. Simone says she refuses to date a man with 9-to-5 job and gets dragged
There was some skepticism despite B. Simone’s apology as related in another Instagram post:
https://twitter.com/thealeshabrown/status/1272191991816892417?s=12
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