Getting married is usually a joyous occasion. For most, it’s a day filled with friends and family. But for social media influencer Lunden Stallings, the day ended with an apology video after a Reddit thread revealed racist posts from the influencer.
“I just want everyone to know, even the ones that don’t know, that I am sorry,” said Stallings in a video posted to the TikTok account she shares with now-wife Olivia Bennett. The couple has more than 1 million social media followers, including more than 220,000 on Instagram.
While in high school, in the early 2010s, Stallings posted a series of tweets using a racial epithet and saying other ugly things. The posts were made over a decade ago, but Stallings has learned the harsh lesson that nothing on the internet ever goes away completely.
“I just want to acknowledge and recognize that I am completely and utterly disgusted and ashamed and honestly embarrassed at how normal it was for me to speak that way on Twitter and for my friends and I to address each other that way or for me to sing along in rap songs,” she said.
In the video, Stallings was joined by her wife, Olivia Bennett, who revealed the two had a “conversation” about what happened then and how to handle it now.
“You were a kid, and you were ignorant, and it was wrong and shameful, and it’s so embarrassing,” Bennett said. “And I think that’s why you wanted to get rid of them because that’s not a reflection of your character and how I know you and how so many people know you.”
Stallings has since deleted the apology video and her Twitter account. She and Bennett married on September 30 at Naylor Hall in Roswell.
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