Charli D’Amelio addresses backlash over Squishmallow toy collection

TikTok star Charli D’Amelio has addressed the backlash she received after posting a picture of her Squishmallow stuffed animal collection, calling the response “extreme” and saying she was just excited to join in.

Charli D’Amelio is the most followed person on TikTok to date, with over 100 million followers on the video-sharing app. While she has a huge number of fans, being in the spotlight has also brought a lot of hate her way, even resulting in her losing thousands of thousands of followers after her controversy back in November.

Charli and Dixie’s 2 Chix podcast serves as a way for the stars to share their candid thoughts on internet fame, though of late they have found themselves having to address some bizarre backlash, like people claiming Charli was trying to copy Dixie with a music career.

At the start of February, the star found criticism coming her way again after she posted a harmless photo of her surrounded by Squishmallows. Squishmallows are an adorable brand of stuffed animal with large, round, and often very colorful creatures, that have become extremely popular recently.

Many claimed that the TikToker was going to “raise the prices” of the stuffed creatures, as well as increasing the popularity of the brand, and therefore making them sell out. One commenter said, “if y’all thought it was hard to find them before, now we are really screwed.”

But in a February 11 episode of the 2 Chix podcast, Charli and Dixie addressed the bizarre backlash, which Dixie herself called, “one of the dumbest things she’s ever heard.”

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Charli stated that she wanted, “the Squishmallow fandom to see where I’m coming from,” and explained that she was “really excited” to get some of the coveted toys after hearing about them.

She revealed that she had so many duplicates because she had bought mystery packs which were the product that could get to her the fastest, and she had planned to give the extras to friends and fans.

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Charli said she even saw some Squishmallow fans saying, “why does she have all the ugly ones,” with the TikTok star disagreeing and saying, “they were so cute.”

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She hit out at the people who were criticizing her over her collection, saying, “everyone expects me to be this adult all the time, and then when I show my side that’s like, hey, I’m still growing up, I still want to be able to do normal teenager things. And if that’s mini brands or stuffed animals of any sort, that shouldn’t be something that people feel the need to gatekeep.”

With all eyes on them, it seems like the D’Amelio sisters can’t catch a break from the criticism, though they still have many fans on their side.