The influencer economy has always been fluent in aesthetics, but rarely in ethics. Brands know how to curate diversity for the feed, but when it’s time to defend the very people who make their marketing look inclusive, the captions go quiet.

After Huda Mustafa’s livestream, where a caller called EBONY Power 100 honoree Olandria Carthen the N-word and laughter followed, silence filled the timelines. The same brands that love to repost Olandria’s content, that fill her comments with heart emojis and “stunning” reactions, have suddenly gone missing. The same brands that send her PR boxes and invite her to influencer dinners are nowhere to be found when she needs public protection.

This is what “post-DEI” and “2020” look like. The corporate language of inclusion without the moral infrastruct

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