Carissa Pinkston—a model for Marc Jacobs, Savage x Fenty, Prabal Gurung, and more—has recently come under fire for falsely coming out as a transgender woman while trying to avoid responsibility for previous transphobic comments, and the story is truly absurd. After she “came out” and was called out for her lie, Carissa went on Instagram to confess that she isn’t actually a transgender woman. Apparently, Carissa lied about being a transgender woman only so people would stop sending her hateful messages because of her transphobic Facebook posts.

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Still having a hard time keeping up? It’s a lot to process, so I don’t blame you. Below is everything we know about this completely bizarre situation. Trigger warning: transphobic comments.



Carissa started posting transphobic comments in May 2019.

On Facebook, Carissa apparently began posting under the name Rissa Danielle in late May. She made two negative comments invalidating the identities of transgender people. “Being Transgender does NOT make you a woman. It makes you simply Transgender,” she wrote in one post. In another post, she said, “This is how they want to be perceived. In a biological context, there are Females and Males. This is the world in 2019.”

Obviously, this is hurtful, untrue, and unnecessary on so many levels, and Carissa was reportedly dropped from her agency as a result.

Facebook

Facebook

Two months after the comments, Carissa apologized for what she said and “came out” as trans.

After receiving heat for her comments and being fired, Carissa chalked up her behavior to being afraid of coming out as a trans woman herself. In a lengthy Instagram post, Carissa said:

“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. I’m Transgender. I transitioned at a very young age and I’ve lived my Life as a Female ever since. It’s been very hard to keep this secret but what I said about Trans-Women is a direct reflection of my inner insecurities and I have since come to realize that I am a Woman...WE ALL ARE!”



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@twistpinkston Instagram

Twitter began to uncover Carissa’s lies.

Model Aaron Philip, who is transgender, was pretty enraged when she found out Carissa was claiming to be transgender, especially because she knows Carissa offline.

Another top model, Aleece Wilson, also believed that Clarissa was lying about being trans. The two previously worked together on a Nike fashion campaign.

Amid the controversy, Twitter user @CeceliaJinks took the opportunity to ask that Savage x Fenty specifically look into the allegations against Carissa.

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Carissa then confessed that she lied about being a trans woman.

A few days later, Carissa made a second statement on Instagram admitting that she lied about being a transgender woman. According to her post, Carissa reasoned that if she falsely came out as a trans woman, it would “make things better” for herself by lessening the hate she got for her transphobic comments. Read her second statement, below:

“I apologize for any transphobic remark I’ve ever made towards the Trans community. 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. I’m truly sorry. I’m only 20 and I’m human. I make mistakes but I refuse to let them define me. I hope you all can forgive me and move on from this because I’m so much more than this incident and I’m not a coward.”

@twistpinkston Instagram

In addition to her statement, Carissa said that Euphoria star and trans model Hunter Schafer is no longer friends with her.

Now, Carissa has deleted everything.

While many people remain dumbfounded by her actions, Carissa has deleted all her apology posts from Instagram. We’ll update this post if we get new information.