Model Carissa Pinkston recently came under fire for falsely coming out as a transgender in an attempt to avoid backlash after posting a series of transphobic comments.
It all started in May when the model began to post a series of homophobic statements to a Facebook account, which she used by the name Rissa Danielle, reported E! News.
In the since-deleted posts that were re-shared by social media users later, the 20-year-old model claimed that transgender people "want to be perceived" as male and female, but that in the "biological context there are Males and Females."
In another post, she also stated that she believes, "Being Transgender does NOT make you a woman. It makes you simply Transgender."
While her comments began to draw receive flak, she didn't appear to understand the consequences of her actions and continued to speak about the topic.
"I really do want to take back my Trans comment because if they can say they're Women I can reclaim my virginity," she said in one of her alleged final posts on the matter.
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The model was fired from her agency, Elite Models, over the statements, according to Paper magazine, as cited by E! News. During her time at the agency, she modelled with big brands like Marc Jacobs and Coach.
However, instead of apologising, she made a confession no one saw coming.
"I'm Transgender. I transitioned at a very young age and I've lived my Life as a Female ever since," the influencer claimed on social media.
She then tried to clarify her posts by explaining that her comments were a "reflection of my inner insecurities," and not homophobic statements.
She added, "I wasn't ready to come out about it yet, but today I got fired and I've been receiving hate mail and death threats ever since so I'm being forced to tell the truth."
A fellow model Aleece Wilson got involved and tried to reveal the truth. Wilson, who previously worked with Carissa on a Nike shoot, immediately called her out for "lying to thousands of people" about her identity.
"I've seen baby pictures of Carrissa, I've seen her fully naked, I've been around this women long enough to fully know her. We have many trans friends this conversation would have definitely been brought up," Aleece insisted.
Carissa replied to Aleece, "It's sad because I really thought you were my friend."
However, just as fast as she made the shocking revelation, she took it back.
"I panicked and I thought if I came out as Trans that I could somehow make things better for myself but it appears I've only made things worse," Pinkston confessed.
She also blamed her actions on her tender age and human nature, while simultaneously apologising for the "transphobic remark." Going forward she noted that she hopes to "move on" and prove that she is "so much more than this incident."
However, the damage was done by then. Screenshots from her Instagram story showed that she later shared photos of herself with Euphoria star Hunter Schafer. Carissa said that Schafer is no longer friends with her.
She captioned, "I hate to do this because this doesn't concern her but, me being 'Transphobic' is stupid. I have been friends with Hunter way before all these comments and now she won't even talk to me."
Hunter is yet to comment on the matter. However, Aleece Wilson has since taken to her Instagram story to thank the followers who "stuck with me during this madness."
Carissa has since deleted all of her apology posts from Instagram.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content