What’s up?
It’s Sussan Mourad here with Clevver News and Madison Beer has responded to the claims
that she posed for a “photo op” during a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles.
Many of our favorite celebs have been using their platforms to speak out on the murder
of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many more who have tragically lost
their lives due to the color of their skin and police brutality.
Many others like Kehlani, Halsey, Zendaya, Ariana Grande, Tinashe, Cole Sprouse, and
many more have also been seen out at the Black Lives Matter protests.
And Madison Beer has also been sharing posts from the protests along with resources to
help her millions of followers get involved in the movement.
But a viral video shared earlier this week accused Madison of “performative activism.”
The video seemingly showed Madison Beer posing for a photographer on top of a car with a
sign just a few yards away from a Black Lives Matter protest in LA.
Here’s the clip…
And here are the photos that came from that moment.
And along with the clip, the person tweeted saying quote, “of course madison beer had
to use this opportunity for a photo op lmaooo this is what we call performative activism.”
And in case you aren’t familiar with what performative activism is, it’s a term referring
to activism done to increase one's social capital rather than one's devotion to a cause.
It is often associated with surface-level activism, which has also been referred to
as slacktivism.
And the video of Madison quickly went viral raking in hundreds of thousands of views and
there were tons of comments criticizing her for apparently hiring a photographer to exploit
the demonstrations for a photo opp.
People were saying things like “disappointed but not surprised…” “this is getting
ridiculous” and “cannot make this shit up man.”
And another person wrote quote, “Non-black people need to get comfortable with the idea
of being called out and corrected for their performative activism.
Using this as a photo op is wrong regardless of everything else she’s done and shouldn’t
happen again.”
And that person did mention that while she was being criticized for this photo op, Madison
has been using her voice and platform to speak out about the Black Lives Matter movement.
She even tweeted about being tear gassed at a protest in Santa Monica over the weekend.
And now Madison is clearing up the rumors surrounding the viral video and photos.
She responded to a fan who asked, “can you address the photo shoot rumors?
I really look up to you and I would hate for it to be true.”
Madison said quote, “The photoshoot rumors are wildly untrue.
I have been protesting for days.
This is not and never was a photo op, it is me standing with a movement and getting out
there to spread a message I believe in.
that’s all.”
The photographer who took the pics actually came out to share the details surrounding
the images too, we will get to what he said in a second.
Because that wasn’t the only tweet Madison made in relation to the rumors.
Another fan tweeted out screenshots of a DM conversation with Madison where she explained
it wasn’t a photo op, saying “she really sat there and lied to me like that i’m in
disbelief...
“
To which Madison actually responded with her own screenshots between her and the photographer
and tweeting to this fan, “i did not lie. this photographer is spreading unclear information
about me.
these are our messages.
i will not allow anyone to make me protesting day after day into something it is NOT. i
am out here for one reason only.
i will not allow it to be spun into something it never was.”
In the DM conversation screenshots between Madison and the photographer, you can see
Madison reached out to him and asking him to clear it up because he knows its
“wildly untrue” and saw her protesting for hours.
The photographer apologised for getting her “into this”.
He also said that he was getting so many messages from people and media who quote “wanted
to know the truth” and was frustrated, making reference to some responses he made.
Madison then called him out saying “but why did you say it was set up…???
You said “okay it was planned so what” and now they literally all think I lied.
Like this is actually insane.”
He responded that he was being sarcastic and was fed up with having to reply.
Shortly after tweeting out that DM conversation to a fan, Madison also tweeted that she did
not want fans to attack anyone involved and that it was clearly just a miscommunication.
OK, so what did the photographer have to say?
The photographer, whose name is Josh, captured the viral pics of Madison at the protest and
he also took to his social media to clear up the rumors.
Josh said quote, “There’s rumors spreading around that I was hired by Madison to take
pictures of her at the BLM march yesterday.
These rumors are 100 percent untrue.
I was taking pictures at the event and ran into Madison while also marching at the event.
Since she’s a celebrity I decided to take pictures of her.”
He continued on and said quote, “I’m a free-lance photographer and have been to the
event all three days and I’ve ran into her all three days, I just happened to have brought
my camera yesterday.
Madison has been to the protests three days in a row and has probably marched and been
at the event longer that any other celebrity.
Since she’s a famous public figure and she’s in Los Angeles there’s almost nowhere she
can go and not run into paparazzi.
Whoever is spreading those rumors and contributing to them should stop immediately as they’re
100 percent false.”
Other people have shared their similar experiences with Madison on social media like this person
who wrote quote, “Completely false rumors.
I ran into Madison as well two days ago in Santa Monica as I was also out there documenting
what is going on.
I was standing next to her as she was tear gassed.
She’s been out fighting for this since it started.
Don’t believe everything you read."
And Madison responded to this person saying quote, “so glad i found u. u helped me so
much when i was gassed.
u cared & held me & calmed me & we had JUST met. this is what a peaceful protest consists
of.
these r the stories the media isn’t sharing.
strangers helping & caring for eachother, fighting for the same thing.
thanks again.”
And Madison doesn’t seem to be too concerned about the photo op rumors anymore, she has
continued to share Black Lives Matter related content on her social media pages.
And she’s continued to attend protests.
Also, if you have a few extra minutes, please take a moment and click right over here to
watch this video to know why this issue is so important to us here at Clevver.
Then let us know what you think about the photo op rumors surrounding Madison!
Share your thoughts down in the comments below.
I’m your host, Sussan Mourad, bye guys!