Photo of Jay Versace
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Jay Versace soared to fame as a boy comedian on Vine and YouTube in the mid-2010s. His comedy Vines made him a worldwide pop culture star as a teenager. Jay’s rise to fame was unprecedented at the time.

Versace eventually transitioned from doing comedy skits to focus on producing music for SZA, Tyler the Creator, Doja Cat, and more. He won a Grammy award for his production on Tyler the Creator’s album.

Now the 27-year-old influencer is going viral for all the wrong reasons.

Jay asked a question on X (formerly Twitter) about the modeling industry favoring African models over Black American models.

He wrote: “Why do it seem like you gotta look extremely african in order to be a successful black model. ion like det [sic].”

Photo of Jay Versace tweet

Jay’s question was critical of the modeling industry overlooking Black models, but his post was misinterpreted as being critical of African facial features in general.

Photo of Jay Versace tweet

Photo of Jay Versace tweet

The collective known as Black Twitter quickly got to work ripping Jay a new one.

One upset X user wrote: “That Jay Versace tweet is very tired and disgusting. Last year African models looked ‘Eurocentric’ and now you people are saying they look ‘extremely African’. So which one is it? Bunch of weirdos. Africa is a huge continent with people that have diverse phenotypes and features.”

Another X user wrote: “What do you mean “extremely African”? What does an “African” look like? Cause last time I checked, Africa is a CONTINENT with 54 countries and I don’t think we all look alike.”

But others defended Jay Versace. They noted that his tweet wasn’t critical of African people. Jay was simply commenting on the direction that modeling has taken in recent years.

They noted that he concluded his post by writing “I don’t like that” in slang.

One person on X wrote: “Jay Versace isn’t complaining about the fetishization of those read as African. He’s complaining that the fetishization gives them more access and more jobs. He’s resentful of what he perceives to be an inverse of the desirability hierarchy in modeling spaces.”

Another X user wrote: “Jay Versace was literally just saying that African people with certain features are sought after by the modeling world in a way that feels weird and like fetishization. He never said that African people aren’t beautiful people or that African people are privileged.”