TikTok star slammed for “tone-deaf” sponsored video promoting The Color Purple

A TikTok star has been slammed after making a promotional video for 2023’s The Color Purple that many felt was “tone-deaf” and “out of touch.”

2023’s The Color Purple is a musical coming-of-age period drama that follows the life of an African American woman living in the South during the early 1900s.

Based on the 1982 book of the same name, the story details the struggles faced by the protagonist with heavy topics including sexual assault, race and racism, sexism, gender roles, spirituality, and violence.

This latest adaption is set for release in the US on December 25, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures. However, the production company’s marketing choices have caused a stir after one TikTok star found herself in hot water following her “tone-deaf” sponsored video for the film.

Mirta Miler, who goes by ‘mimiermakeup‘, came under fire after promoting the film by dying a wig purple and putting together an outfit based on the color. She also called the story “heartwarming” to the surprise of shocked viewers.

“What movie did you watch? ‘Cause it couldn’t have been the same Color Purple that I watched,” TikTok user ‘theeofficialjuju‘ said in a stitch responding to Miler’s video. She went on to call out Warner Bros. Pictures for not partnering with a black creator considering the film chronicles the life of a black woman and features a predominantly black cast.

“I noticed a lot of ‘influencers’ are promoting the movie. Yet all of the videos are about the color rather than the story,” one person commented. A third said, “She didn’t do research and disrespected what the movie was about.”

Miler has since removed the sponsored video and posted an apology in which she said, “I am not making this video to justify my stupidy or unprofessionalism, I am making this video to take accountability… me as a content creator absolutely did not do my job, and my job is to educate myself about the content I post — especially sponsored content.”

Stating there was no “justification for being ignorant”, Miler went on to say, “The only thing that I feel like it’s a right thing to do is to be absolutely embarrassed and take accountability for my ignorance and apologize directly to the black community for being tone deaf and insensitive.”

Promising she would not be accepting compensation from Warner Bros. for the deleted TikTok, Miler’s video was met with a positive reception, with users claiming her apology felt “genuine”. One person wrote, “I’m happy she removed it. She saw she was wrong and corrected it. That’s more than most of these ‘influencers.'”

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