Nikita Dragun has amassed quite the following since her debut on YouTube in 2014 posting makeup tutorials. The influencer also had her fair share of controversies since first coming into the public eye on TikTok, where her near 15 million followers eclipses her YouTube following almost fivefold.
Between posting her first YouTube video about how to get silver hair, coming out as transgender, launching her own cosmetic line, Dragun Beauty, and joining the Hype House and the Netflix show it birthed, there has been many a moment where Dragun has come under the collective microscope of the broader social media landscape. We’ve compiled a list of her most controversial moments since her rise to stardom:
Blackfishing
On multiple occasions Dragun has faced backlash for artificially darkening her skin to appear more ethnically ambiguous, effectively wearing blackface.
The first instance was in 2017 when she appeared in an Instagram post promoting Jeffree Star’s cosmetics line, which has since been deleted. At the time, she defended her appearance by arguing the creative design for the imagery, and stated disappointment in the choice to critique the “inclusive” campaign rather than celebrate it, citing her Vietnamese and Mexican roots.
At New York Fashion Week in 2019, Dragun wore box braids, which she claims to have worn to “show her love and appreciation for all the gorgeous black women in her life,” calling out “a double standard when another person takes inspiration from black culture.”
Dragun posted a tweet in 2019 asking “what race she should be that day,” which has since been deleted after naturally sparking incensed responses from people of color. She defended herself by following up on the tweet, reminding her audience of her mixed race heritage.
Finally, in 2021, Dragun shared an Instagram post promoting face powder from her cosmetics line, in which she again appeared to have noticeably darker skin. While the influencer didn’t respond to the backlash this time around, the general sentiment was exasperation about the fact that Dragun continues to get away with blackface.
Coming to the defense of James Charles
James Charles publicly came under fire from Tati Westbrook in 2019 for promoting the supplement brand “Sugar Bear Hair,” a direct competitor to Westbrook’s brand Halo Beauty, which the latter influencer saw as a betrayal. Westbrook also called Charles out for alleged predatory behavior towards straight white men. The feud resulted in Charles losing over a million YouTube subscribers while Westbrook gained four million.
Charles defended himself in a video responding to the shots fired by Westbrook, claiming his deal with Sugar Bear Hair was in exchange for an artist pass to Coachella. Nikita Dragun leapt to the defense of Charles on Twitter, claiming to have connected him with the supplement brand, sharing screenshots of a text chain between the pair.
The sticking point occurred when another set of DM screenshots surfaced between Charles and the YouTube channel Tea Spill, in which the star appears to have reached out to Sugar Bear Hair First. This contradicted Dragun’s claims, and she was accused of lying and fabricating the text message chain between herself and Charles.
Black man on a leash stunt
Nikita Dragun again landed herself in hot water when she attended the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards with three men on leashes, one of whom was black. Considering the oppression the black community has faced over the course of history, the stunt was considered unacceptable.
Dragun never directly responded to the incident, however, per Seventeen, she had taken inspiration from Snoop Dogg’s VMA appearance in 2003, when he attended the awards show with two women on a leash. She reportedly said “she will forever be known as the girl who walked men on diamond leashes.”
The Daisy Keech and Michael Yerger feud
In 2020, Dragun responded to an Instagram post by her fellow Hype House member Daisy Keech, in which the latter is pictured with the former’s ex-boyfriend, Michael Yerger. Dragun claimed she ‘wasn’t even mad’ about seeing her ex with another girl, adding that Keech will be just as embarrassed as she was when she finds out what he’s really about.
Dragun was high-roaded in response by both Keech and Yerger, with the former asking her to let bygones be bygones, and the latter aiming a jibe in her direction about the amount of time that has passed since their relationship ended. Both wished Dragun well.
The Trisha Paytas feud
Trisha Paytas made a snide remark in Dragun’s direction when her show Nikita Unfiltered premiered its second season on the Snapchat platform. It followed Dragun posting an Instagram story “cancel me as many times as you want, my show is still running.”
The Def Noodles Twitter account posted the quote, to which Trisha Paytas responded “On Snapchat”, with a laughing emoji. Dragun clapped back citing her show’s viewership, which she claimed to have 30 million viewers, and accused Paytas of downplaying a transgender woman’s accomplishments. It kicked off a back and forth spat between the pair, which lasted for hours and a number of other YouTubers and influencers getting involved.
Candle merch controversy
Dragun, as well as a number of other notable celebrities including Kim Kardashian, came under fire during a trend when celebrity faces were being superimposed over the faces of saints on candles, sparking an incensed response from the Catholic community.
Dragun launched a candle with her own likeness as part of her cosmetics line, and was met with an outpouring of criticism for disrespecting Christianity.
Pandemic parties
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the various lockdowns and restrictions that went with it, Dragun was criticized on numerous occasions for both attending and throwing parties in which she and her peers appeared maskless.
In July 2020, she was accused of attending two different Hype House parties in the same month, and was called out for not using her platform to urge people to socially distance and follow proper quarantine procedures, and in fact doing the exact opposite. Dragun’s lack of a mask in public became a point of inquiry again in September 2020, and during her February 2021 birthday party.
Dragun’s Miami arrest
On Nov. 7, 2022, Dragun was arrested following an incident in a Miami Hotel, at which time she was allegedly seen walking around the hotel’s pool area naked. The police report, per TMZ, states that Dragun was causing a disturbance and threw water at hotel staffers. When police attended the scene, the influencer allegedly threw an open water bottle at security guards and police officers.
The influencer was misgendered and placed in the men’s unit of the Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guildford Knight Correctional Center, and has since been released after a posting a $5000 bond. When Dragun made a virtual court appearance, she asked judge Mindy Glazer if she is to remain in the men’s unit, to which she responded, “Yeah, I don’t make the rules up there.”
Published: Nov 9, 2022 10:24 pm