Disney alum Skai Jackson has responded to accusations of racism and bullying by a former fellow dance peer and TikToker.
The drama unfolded on Wednesday, Sept. 30, when a TikToker posted a video in which she accused the actress of bullying her. The young woman, who goes by TikToker username s01v319, claimed that the actress made her life insufferable when they attended school together. “Skai Jackson and I used to dance together at this place called Dance Institute of Harlem. When we were both there, she bullied me all the time to the point where I cried every single day. I hated going to dance. She made my life hell,” the user said.
The TikToker then went on to accuse Jackson of racist behavior. “Not to mention, I am also half Asian. She pulled her eyes up at me. She would drive all my friends away from me, make me feel so alone, so isolated. She had this entire anti-bullying campaign once, and I was like, are you not going to talk about the fact that you are literally a bully,” she explained. She added, “So ya I have had a hate for her for a very long time, and it has nothing to do with race or anything.”
The 18-year-old “Dancing with the Stars” star responded to the accusations in the comment section of the video, stating, “We may have went to the same dance school but I barely even spoke to you Chile.” She added, “Stop trying to gain attention 10 years later. Get a life girl!” to which the TikToker responded, “Hi I would love to have a proper discussion with you over this. I am sorry this blew up how it did and I never meant to say anything o ur-.”
On Thursday, Oct. 1, Jackson took to her Instagram page to seemingly address the allegations again with a vintage photo of herself in dance school. “Once upon a time, before I went to the Dance Theater of Harlem, I went to an all Chinese ballet school,” the actress captioned the snap. She added, “Shoutout to all my old friends at Chen Dance Center!” Although she restricted the comment section, those who could engage called out the star’s slay post, including one user who wrote, “the shade💀.”
In June, Jackson made headlines when she used her social media platform to expose racists. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, she told reporters that she had received over 3,000 direct message requests.
“I would always just get DMs from my fans because people know I’m an advocate for anti-bullying. So I would always just look at my messages and see a bunch of my fans saying, ‘Look at what this person said to me, I don’t know how to deal with this,'” she said. “The more I saw it, it became 20 in a day, I was like, you know what? No! I’m gonna speak out about it, ’cause I think it’s really important. People go through these struggles every day in life, and for me, it’s kinda like my duty with the big platform that I have, to use it for good.”
