TikTok stars Charli D'Amelio and Madi Monroe have issued apologies for participating in a dance challenge that the cosplay community alleged was "offensive" and "a form of bullying."
Earlier this week, the duo hopped on a viral trend in which TikTokers dance similarly to anime character Chika Fujiwara from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War — something the community believed was an attempt at "mocking" them "by exaggerating their movements."
"Why can't we just have fun? We put time and effort into our cosplays, it's a coping mechanism for many of us and y'all are straight up invalidating us," as one commenter wrote, while another added, "We never make fun of y'all for dancing the same dance for 50 TikToks in a row but y'all make fun of us for just vibing lmao."
its basically a trend on tiktok for people to "mock" or make fun of cosplayers by exaggerating their movements and charli and another creator sort of did that in a dance video and many people are not happy abt it
— arpi (@ptrsuun) March 19, 2020
No one is happy lmaoooo pic.twitter.com/1jc4Krixyn
— marco (@FrickFrackMarco) March 19, 2020
In the wake of the backlash, D'Amelio ended up deleting the video and issuing an apology, in which she contended that her and Monroe's intentions were "completely taken the wrong way."
"I did not mean for it to happen that way at all. I was not trying to bring down anyone. I respect and love all types of content creations. It's just so amazing to see all the different things that people can do," D'Amelio continued. "I'm so sorry if you thought that I was trying to bully or bring you guys down in any way shape or form. That is not the type of person that I am. That's not what I stand for."
Additionally, Monroe also posted her own apology to TikTok, in which she said that while they were just following a pre-existing trend — though she did go on to admit that this "doesn't justify" her actions. The video appears to have since been made private.
"I really did not know that it was offensive," Monroe continued, per Cosmopolitan. "I respect you guys so much. I know you guys are saying that I'm losing all my cosplay fans and I'm very upset about that, because I think you guys are so creative and so cool and I love you guys so much."
@charlidamelio to the cosplay community
♬ original sound - charlidamelio
That said, reactions to D'Amelio's apology seem to be mixed. While some cosplayers expressed gratitude, other fans questioned the gravity of the situation.
See what people are saying about her response, below.
i understand that you may have felt offended but charli has done nothing wrong and she was in now way trying to make fun of your coping mechanisms she was following a trend,you could barely tell she was doing cosplay,so everyone else can do it but when she does it it’s a problem?
— lai (@vuittondols) March 20, 2020
mfs really made charli d’amelio apologize over a COSPLAY VIDEO i hate it here
— morgan (@mcnItys) March 19, 2020
it's good that she understood that what she did was hurtful to some people, but a lot of them also overreacted like-
— blue!!MINSU DAY (@dohyxn1) March 19, 2020
so?? that doesn’t mean its ok lmao
— ًjulia . doafp spoilers (@waitaminnette) March 19, 2020
i’m sorry y’all get sm hate for no reason she goes through the same thing neither of you deserve to be hated on for no reason people just need to learn to spread kindness because some people overreacted a bit when she clearly wasn’t trying to hurt anyone ya know
— sydney (@emmaspizzeria) March 20, 2020
Photo via Getty