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Kat Von D Clarifies That She Is Not a Nazi

Kat Von D. Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Kat von D Beaut

Most YouTube videos that start with “Hey guys” tend to be tutorials, but the video Kat Von D released last night was nothing of the sort. In the 11 minute and one second video, she addresses two controversial topics she’s been “getting a ton of hate” about that have nothing to do with Jeffree Star this time: Anti-semitism and vaccines. The main thesis of the video is no, she is not a Nazi, and no she’s not an anti-vaxxer, either.

According to Von D, the whole “Nazi rumor” started way back in 2008 on the set of the TLC reality-TV show Miami Ink, where Von D says she was hazed and verbally and sexually harassed by a male co-star who felt threatened by the bump in ratings after she joined the show. She eventually quit the show, but he then tried to cancel her spinoff, LA Ink, by approaching the network with an autographed 8x10 of Von D with “a forged anti-semitic message on it.” He threatened to take it to the media, and when the network didn’t buy it (Von D says they could tell it was forged), he followed through.

As for the the whole anti-vaxxer thing, that goes back to last summer when she posted a (now deleted) Instagram photo of her pregnant belly and a lengthy caption in which she says she and her husband plan to raise “a vegan child, without vaccinations.” Perhaps sensing the high backlash potential, she also advised, “if you don’t dig a certain something about what I post, i kindly ask that you press the unfollow button and move the fuck on.” A lot of people didn’t and said they’d boycott her makeup instead.

“I am not an anti-vaxxer, what I am is a first-time mother,” she says in the video, adding that she decided to consult with a pediatrician, but she’s not revealing anything else because she’s not falling for that again.

Naturally, this video about addressing backlash is getting a lot of backlash. Von D claims she waited this long to address everything because she’s been “dreading” it and didn’t have the support system before, but a good chunk of the internet suspects it’s due to a boycott-related drop in sales. They still want answers about her husband’s alleged “Nazi art,” her former boyfriends with anti-semitic connections, and why she thinks reminding everyone she’s Latina is a valid point here.

And lest you forget this is a beauty-related story, leave it to Twitter to point out that in the video, Von D’s eyeliner is pretty smudged, too.

Watch the whole thing below:

Kat Von D Clarifies That She Is Not a Nazi