“Southern Charm” Star, Mylkbar Issue Separate Apologies After Accusations of Racism Go Viral

As a result of Shields’s post, Rodriguez said she received “dozens of harassing and intimidating messages” from people in Shields’s social circle. The messages included one from Macpherson who said, “It’s hilarious that you think you’re better than those that voted for Trump. I guarantee you that I am smarter than you, more successful than you, and will always be several steps ahead of you…You are a nobody. MAGA” (see provided screenshots here and here).

Rodriguez told BuzzFeed News that Southern Charm star Kathryn Dennis was among the group of people who direct messaged her. She said Dennis tagged her in an Instagram story showing an old video of Dennis getting her nails done at MylkBar.

The direct messages prompted Rodriguez to reach out to Tamika Gadsden, a local activist (Charleston Activist Network) and radio show host, for help. Gadsden on Sunday shared what had been happening on her own social media pages saying, “In Charleston you learn, fairly quickly, that the face of White Supremacy resembles that of the boutique-owning, gatekeeping glitterati. This is Katie Shields…She’s organizing a Nautical MAGA rally with her friends. Katie is reprehensible.”

Gadsden’s post prompted Dennis to direct message her several times, saying things like, “Are you unaware of your absolutely sociopathic behavior,” “Ur legit what’s wrong with our city,” “Stop using Charleston and ur minority claim as a platform to harass people,” and the cryptic “You’ll learn.” Dennis also called Gadsden a “L 7 weenie” before saying “That’s how serious I take this” followed by a monkey emoji.

Gadsden told BuzzFeed News that she didn’t appreciate Dennis’s “name-calling and the use of racial tropes.”

Dennis on Monday issued a public apology on her social media pages and sent a personal one to Gadsden via direct message. Gadsden said Dennis told her the monkey emoji was meant to imply “monkey business,” but its use was “tone deaf and wrong.”

The added attention from Dennis, coupled with unrelated blow back from a social media interaction with a customer about re-opening the nail salon, and a barrage of negative messages, comments, and more, led MylkBar to make its Instagram account private on Monday evening.

The nail salon on Tuesday made their account public again and issued their own apology, which you can see here and below:

Rodriguez issued her own statement on Tuesday, which you can see here and here.

Surely, much more has been said in other direct messages and offline, but those are details that have become public thus far. Aside from their public apologies, neither Dennis nor Shields have spoken to the press or commented about the situation.

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The screenshots included in this post were provided by multiple people. Any commentary on the images, was not added by this website.