Days after a livestream in which she laughed at an unnamed individual called “Love Island” star Olandria Carthen, the N-word, one notable beauty brand is cutting ties with Huda Mustafa.
Huda Beauty, the make-up brand helmed by Huda Kattan, who partnered with the “Love Island” contestant in September, is ending their partnership over the video, saying Huda “displayed behavior that does not align with our values” and her actions were “deeply upsetting.”
In a lengthy statement posted on Instagram, the brand underscored that several members of the makeup community and the Huda Beauty team were hurt and offended by the livestream and Mustafa’s subsequent actions.
“At Huda Beauty, kindness and humanity are at the heart of everything we do,” the statement began. “Unfortunately, one of our recent collaborators has displayed behavior that does not align with our values. We are truly disappointed by Huda Mustafa’s recent live and we take all forms of racism very seriously. While we don’t believe her actions reflect her character, we found them deeply upsetting.”
The statement continued, “We know that many members of our community and team were hurt and offended by these actions. While we valued the partnership we had with Huda, her recent behavior, and the way the situation has been handled does not reflect our brand’s principles. As a result, we have decided to end our partnership and remove any related content from our social platforms and in-store displays.”
Mustafa tried her best to quell the situation and play damage control, issuing an apology to Carthen in her Instagram Stories.
“I want to begin by saying I completely respect Olandria and it’s extremely disheartening that anyone,” Huda wrote on Oct. 29, “especially a presumed child, would find it excusable to use this type of language, and doing so only underlines the ignorance of the gravity that such a word carries.”
She then apologized directly to Olandria for the incident.
“I apologize for my immediate reaction,” she wrote. “My reaction in that moment came from being caught off guard, not from finding the word or situation funny. It was a nervous, uncomfortable reaction that I recognize was inappropriate.” Mustafa also commented that she would be donating to the NAACP.
In the livestream with boyfriend Louis Russell on Oct. 27, Mustafa can be seen laughing after a caller tells her and Russell, “Olandria is a N—” and repeats it. “What did they say? They said a bad word,” Mustafa says, before ultimately hanging up on the caller.
After the livestream, Carthen called for accountability regarding racism and acknowledged that “surface-level apologies” wouldn’t be enough in her eyes. Looks like others are echoing her sentiments about not letting racism slide.
