French multinational retailer of beauty and cosmetics products Sephora has canceled one of the US influencers it worked with because of her conservative political views.
In a statement, the company said it was “values around inclusivity” that made it no longer possible for them to maintain a professional partnership with Amanda Ensing. In reality, it was the political views that she espouses that Sephora appears to disagree with.
But Sephora did not arrive at the conclusion to sever ties with Ensing for her posts on social media all on it own – it happened after an outrage campaign launched by an activist.
These activists were, among other things, referring to Trump supporters (about half of America) as “a dangerous group” of which Ensing was one, and therefore had to be removed.
Sephora then found the vague enough “inclusivity” justification to exclude the influencer.
The criticism of Ensing is twofold: first, that she commented online during the January 6 Capitol Hill in an “insensitive manner,” saying things like, “There’s not enough popcorn in the world for what’s about to happen,” along with messages clearly supportive of conservative policies, which she sees as freedom and US-loving, defending the constitution, and defending police and military.
She juxtaposed this in one tweet by saying the left was about “hating America.”
“Only we can riot & loot. Defund the police. Just do what the government tells you & don’t ask questions,” Ensing wrote, describing how she sees left-wing policies.
In the current climate, only one of these sets of accusations would be enough to get influencers canceled as fearful companies don’t want to come under attack themselves. And now many brands have began to distance themselves from Ensing.
In the meanwhile, Ensing said her legal team has asked Sephora to explain why exactly the contract had been terminated.
