In a new, 11-minute YouTube video that is absolutely not an apology despite her uncharacteristically smudged eyeliner, makeup mogul and tattoo artist Kat Von D told her subscribers, “Just to set the record straight from the beginning, I just want to say that I am not anti-Semitic and I am not an anti-vaxxer.”
“Out of every comment I’ve gotten, the ones that are calling me and my family Nazis—those are the ones that really just don’t sit well for me,” she said. “If anything, they’re extremely offensive and super hurtful.”
In the vlog, Von D alleges an abusive work environment on the show Miami Ink, which led to her quitting off camera and creating the spin-off L.A. Ink. She says that a disgruntled co-worker, who she theorizes was insecure about Miami Ink’s future with L.A. Ink on the horizon, “forged [an] anti-Semitic message” on a copy of her headshot, sparking rumors that she was a Nazi back in 2007. “Overnight, I was just falsely branded as an anti-Semite and I had no idea how to handle it or what to do,” she recalled, adding that producers believe her and that’s why they chose to move forward with the new show.
Last summer, in a since-deleted Instagram post, Kat Von D revealed that she and husband Leafar Seyer planned to raise their now three-month-old child Leafar Von Drachenberg Reyes “without vaccinations.” Around the eight-minute mark, Von D addressed that controversy, saying, “Not sure how to start this part of the topic other than by just saying that I am not an anti-vaxxer.”
She continued:
“What I am is a first-time mother. I’m one of those moms that reads everything. I mean I read everything from ingredients in foods to cleaning supplies to medicines—basically anything that is going in my baby or on my baby, I research like a complete and total nerd.
So back when I was pregnant, somebody asked me on Instagram if we were vaccinating our baby, and after doing a bunch of research and reading the ingredients, naturally I experienced some hesitancy... If I would have known that I would have let so many people down with that, I would have never, ever shared where we were at with it at that time. Since then, we have decided as parents to consult with our pediatrician and just let him educate us and guide us. But, unlike before, I have learned my lesson and I am choosing not to make our decision public.”
“I experienced some hesitancy” differs greatly from telling your followers, definitively, that you’ve made the choice to raise your child “without vaccinations,” all while your husband is sharing anti-vax films on Instagram despite the fact that the anti-vax movement is not based in science, but I digress. This is YouTube, so take it for what you will.