Ari Fletcher is facing a tremendous amount of backlash for her BET Awards outfit. Though it wasn’t the most controversial look we saw (that trophy goes to Summer Walker), some fans did feel as though the mother of one looked more prepared for a vacation than to walk a red carpet.
To those people, she said, “Y’all ain’t never even seen a red carpet except the one y’all mama ordered off Amazon for your prom. Please don’t worry about what we wear and how we express ourselves. How you hating from outside the carpet? You can’t even step on one, hoe!”
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Not long after, a designer pulled out receipts accusing Fletcher of failing to post a photo in a dress that she had previously sent her, also expressing that she felt as though the influencer’s BET OOTD was very similar in style to the one she had previously sent.
Sharing one of Ari’s photo dumps to her own story, @gigihuntercollection wrote, “@therealkylesister had me make her a dress in exchange for a post/tag – she ghosted me and kept the dress only to wear this fake knockoff of my brand LOL. Somebody better tell herrrrr.”
The 26-year-old’s red carpet look was a beige, crochet dress, and according to Hunter, she made Fletcher a black crochet dress that’s admittedly different in style, though both are great options for a trip to Tulum.
“This is the dress she had me make just to ghost me when I asked her when she was going to post it,” the designer alleged. “Who knows her? Because she can send it back now.”
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Hunter also shared receipts of their text conversation (which took place over a year ago), in which Fletcher said she would wear the dress during her upcoming trip to the Bahamas.
Subsequent messages from the creative read, “You’re in the Bahamas. I hope that means you’ll be wearing the dress soon! Excited to see you in it,” (which earned an exclamation point reaction from Fletcher) and, a week later, “Hi Ari! Please don’t forget to wear it. I’ve been waiting for a long time. Thank you.”
“If you don’t like it or you’re not going to wear it can you please send it back?” Hunter asked in her final message. “I’m a Black woman designer and I hand-made that dress for you. I know you’re busy but I made it for you for free with the expectation that you’d post and tag me. If you don’t want to wear it I’d appreciate iff you could send it back please so I can sell it.
After the accusations against Fletcher got back to her, she was quick to share her side of the story. “That message is from May 25th, 2021 – over a YEAR ago,” she began.
“You OFFERED to send me a dress. We never had any agreement or contract or payments. You just OFFERED and I let you send a dress. I didn’t wear the dress because it’s ugly. I’m not obligated to wear nothing I’m not on contract for. Still stalking me a year later… Go work on your craft, weirdo.”
Check it all out below, and view our full round-up of red carpet looks from the 2022 BET Awards here.