Kia Buckley, an Australian influencer and owner of Perth activewear brand Kikiva, is apologizing for ehr sister Tez Buckley‘s “casual racism” after she used a racial slur during Kia’s live.
A clip of the moment began going viral this week showing Kia putting on makeup as her sister, Tez, real name Terryane or Terry, came into the room shouting the n-word, with the hard “R.” The clip began with a knock on the door, prompting Kia to tell her viewers, “Oh, that’s my little sister. She just arrived home.”
Just as she finished speaking, Tez shouted, “What up, n***ers?” Kia immediately shouted back, “Tez, I’m on live.” Tez replied, “Oh, I’m—.” Kia continued to do her makeup, in silence, and without making eye contact with the camera.
Australian Influencer Kia Buckley Downplays Sister Tez’s Use Of Racial Slur Then Apologizes For Entire Incident
Kia then glanced down, read the comments for a while, and then finally broke her silence. However, she continued to lie about her sister’s use of the racial slur. While gaslighting viewers, Kia said, “No, she didn’t say that. She said, ‘What up, s*ssies?’.”
At this point, Kia was attempting to cover up her sister’s n-word use by claiming she was saying the plural version of s*ssy, as in sister. As backlash rolled out, Kia ended up releasing an apology through her brand Kikiva. The statement read:
“Our founder, Kia, unreservedly apologises for walking past a standard we should never accept. By not calling out racism in that moment, we hurt our community, our customers and everyone who has supported us. We have let you down. An apology isn’t enough, so here is what we are doing now. Everyone in our business, including Kia, will complete cultural and historical learning. Kia will meet with Elders and community knowledge holders to listen, understand the harm we have caused, and learn how to do better. We are committed to doing much more and to doing better, and we will share what we learn along the way. We know our customers and this community place their trust in us, and we will work to earn it back.”
However, when that apology didn’t hold up, Kia ended up making an apology video, uploaded to her TikTok. She captioned the post, “I unreservedly apologise. I got this wrong, I handled it badly and I let people down, and I’m sorry. What I can do now is learn how to be better.”
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