TikToker Addison Rae’s gig as an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) correspondent is seemingly over before it really began.
Last week, the 20-year-old star took to Twitter to announce she would be the UFC’s newest correspondent, saying she was qualified due to the three months she had spent in college doing broadcast journalism — a program she never finished as she dropped out when she became famous for dancing on TikTok.
I studied broadcast journalism in college for 3 whole months to prepare for this moment pic.twitter.com/5Z95OTSVTA
— Addison Rae (@whoisaddison) July 10, 2021
Related: Your ultimate guide to summer 2021 TikTok beauty trends.
She immediately received backlash for the tweet. Many media personalities took issue with it due to the fact that she is unqualified and being handed a job over those who have studied broadcasting for years:
This is disrespectful to all the people who go to college and work their asses off for jobs like this and sometimes don’t even get them but because Addison has clout she gets them over QUALIFIED sports journalists
— Victor jahaj (@vejijahaj_veji) July 10, 2021
It’s the way you worded the caption for me 😩 Very exciting that you got this opportunity but many broadcast journalism majors who spent 4 years studying won’t ever get a chance like this because they aren’t social media famous. Still happy for you tho!!
— Tyler Layne (@TylerLayneMusic) July 10, 2021
Journalists who bust their ass in college after checking Twitter to see that Addison Rae got they dream job just by dancing on Tiktok pic.twitter.com/l6G0Je1wWm
— VASimp (@kardellsykes35) July 10, 2021
After Twitter’s swift reaction, within hours Rae tweeted that the backlash had gotten her fired from the role:
nvm y’all got me fired https://t.co/kHFFvHuSaM
— Addison Rae (@whoisaddison) July 10, 2021
It’s not the first time Rae has been called out for allegedly taking away opportunities from people who are more qualified or talented. Back in May, she was dragged for a segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where she performed eight popular dance trends from TikTok, many of which were choreographed and popularized by Black TikTokers. Numerous Black creators commented on the incident, comparing it to Bring It On and calling out Rae for taking credit. Several also pointed out that not only did she do the dances, but she also taught them to Fallon poorly:
im literally screaming pic.twitter.com/1oLX0zoQDF
— – (@leftistexe) March 28, 2021
Although her time as a correspondent was short-lived, Rae has other endeavours to look forward to. Aside from dancing on TikTok, it’s likely she’ll continue to pursue a music career after the release of her single “Obsessed.” She also launched a clean beauty line last year.
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