Nikita Dragun is calling out transphobic behavior.
In case you didn’t know, the 25-year-old beauty guru shared footage on Tuesday in which influencer Taylor Caniff openly mocked and repeatedly misgendered her on Instagram Stories. In the video allegedly sent to her from someone on his “close friends” list, the former Vine star secretly filmed Dragun while she left a club with two unidentified men. He then could be heard saying:
“My boy’s hooking up with a guy… And I tell a security guard … ‘Bro, like, it’s none of my business but … Did you guys know that’s a dude? They absolutely looked like I threw a stun grenade in the back of the security lounge. They were like ‘Bro, what?’ and I was like ‘Yeah, that was a dude,’ and they could not believe it.”
Disgusting.
Nikita then appeared on-screen for her own IG post after the clip ended to reflect on the terrible incident and how her “livelihood is constantly threatened” by just living her truth. She tearfully said:
“This is what it’s like to be trans. My livelihood is constantly threatened by just living my life as a trans person. And I’m so embarrassed to even be showing this video, but it’s a reality. It’s what’s really f**king happening in the world. I try to be strong for you guys and hold my head up high, and act like I’m not terrified that something like this will happen to me…This is how trans people will die. This is how trans people die.”
The Dragun Beauty founder added how it just takes “one ignorant, transphobic comment to threaten my entire livelihood,” and she feared for the “people that are with me” due to the hate:
“The fact that it was just a guy friend helping me get into a car, and all of a sudden this man wanted to video it and make fun of the guy who’s helping me, tell the security guards about it. His life is now threatened as well.”
Even more so, Nikita touched on how the horrific experience could have happened to someone else, and could have led to much worse:
“This time it was me, next time it could be somebody else … We must stop trans hate because it leads to trans violence. And people lose their lives, or even worse, they take their own lives because experiencing things like this just breaks my heart and my entire world. And it’s disgusting and I won’t stand for it.”
Well said. Ch-ch-check out the video (below):
A post shared by Mother of Draguns (@nikitadragun)
Since then, E! News claims Caniff responded to the popular vlogger in an IG Live. He reportedly said he was “making a joke” out of the situation and has reached out to Nikita to apologize:
“This is me being me, doing me. But like I said, I’m sorry. I sent her a full apology… ‘I’m sorry, it was for my close friends. It was for 30 people.’ I wasn’t being transphobic. I was just speaking absolute facts. I said, ‘I bet this guy has no idea, as I would not have no idea if I see Nikita Dragun out. And yes, she is a woman, so I get that now… It was obviously something I shouldn’t have said, even on my close friends, but I’m just trying to have comedy.”
Okay, in what world did you think misgendering someone and being a problematic d**k was funny? Like Nikita said, even the smallest of comments that exude transphobia can put the lives of someone in the community in danger. And not to sound cliché but words matter, and they sadly have deadly consequences sometimes. We shouldn’t have to remind folks of this still, yet here we are.
Following the IG Live, the model took to Twitter to slam Taylor for hopping on social media, sharing:
“this man is on his live saying i’m doing this for clout and he’s bisexual… sir u haven’t been relevant since magcon. sit ur TRANSPHOBIC ass down. it’s sad i even gave u any kind attention”
And instead of keeping his mouth shut, he later responded:
“You want me to leak some real info nah you been doing this 2015?! You would hate that, you change to trending seasons ….Keep changing for clout. I speak FACTS. What I said was facts.”
Oh yeah, he sounds so apologetic. Clearly, the man still doesn’t think he did anything wrong.
What are your reactions to Nikita’s message following this Taylor’s repulsive actions? Sound OFF in the comments (below).
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