Here is a quote by Huda Kattan, creator of Huda Beauty, in a video posted to her millions of followers.  TikTok says it took down the video for spreading harmful misinformation, although Huda says she took the video down herself because it was being misconstrued.

“All of the conspiracy theories coming out and a lot of evidence behind them — that Israel has been behind World War I, World War II, September 11, October 7 — they allowed all of this stuff to happen. Is this crazy?  Like, I had a feeling — I was like, ‘Are they behind every world war?’ Yes.”

(This goes on.)

Huda’s follow-up video claimed that she was being smeared due to her activism supporting Palestine. Neutral sources, like cosmetics blogs, are omitting what she said in the original video when discussing the issue.

Every country should be criticized, without fear of government reprisal, if you disagree with its policies or actions.  That is our First Amendment right in this country, and it is one of our most precious, and most exceptional, rights. But why are we allowing people to disguise hate as activism and profit off it by using private businesses who claim to value inclusivity?

What did Huda mean in claiming that Israel is behind WW2, where millions of Jews were systematically exterminated in countries across Europe. Jews living in Israel (which wasn’t an official state at the time) did fight in WW2 for the Allies, against the Nazis.

Jews in America were also committed to fighting the Nazis. My great-uncle, who is American, helped liberate Auschwitz. My grandfather fought in Normandy. They both received Purple Hearts for being wounded as soldiers.

And what did Huda mean that the state of Israel was behind WW1? The modern state of Israel did not exist, and accusing Jews of instigating WW1 is straight Nazi propaganda, and was in Hamas’s original 1988 Charter, which also contained tenets about killing all Jews, everywhere.

The idea that Israel or Jews were behind 9/11 is a globally repeated and false anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. The terrorist group Al Qaeda took full responsibility for the attacks, killing many Jews who worked in NYC. There is no evidence that anyone else is responsible besides Al Qaeda.

And, of course, blaming Israel for 10/7 is what people say to excuse the horrors filmed gleefully by so many who poured into Israel to murder families in their pajamas and take over 200 hostages (including children).  There are still hostages alive in Gaza now; Hamas has filmed some of them in order to make more propaganda and psychologically torture their families.

Whatever your views on Israel/Palestine, it’s alarming that Huda’s claims need to be disputed. So many people are still supporting her. Supporting Palestine in its fight for freedom cannot mean parroting dangerous anti-Semitic tropes or attempting to rewrite history.

Huda Beauty promotes inclusivity as part of its brand. Inclusivity culture is quite profitable, as is Huda Beauty.

Sephora, the popular beauty retailer that sells Huda Beauty, has been asked to drop Huda Beauty from its shelves. Sephora has ended relationships with other beauty brands for misconduct, including Olivia Jade. Sephora is now reviewing its relationship with Huda Beauty, but it is unclear why Sephora needs a multi-day investigation to suss out that Israel is not behind the Holocaust.

Sephora, which sells Huda Beauty, also prides itself on inclusivity, either because inclusivity culture is profitable or Sephora cares about the concept as a principle. Right now, Sephora seems to be putting profits over principles, as Huda, across her platforms, has many more followers than there are Jews in the world. Huda Kattan has not corrected her misstatements.

Inclusivity as a principle is a laudable goal. If you truly believe in inclusivity, in a principled not a partisan way, it means appreciating beauty in so many people. It means allowing many different voices to share their experiences, to be part of something, to care about and find the truth by making spaces welcoming to people of different backgrounds and perspectives. It is the sentiment behind Grutter (since overturned) that allowed universities to maintain affirmative action programs against equal protection challenges because diversity was an important goal in the classroom.

We learn better when exposed to different types of people. As a free speech scholar, I fully support this vision of inclusivity.

Inclusivity culture in practice is too often the opposite of how it should be in theory. Of course, some people still favor principle over ideology, but many who preach inclusivity rhetoric promote acceptance of their favored groups at the expense of other groups.

Many (not all) involved in inclusivity rhetoric also don’t care about truth – they begin with a particular ideology and then cherry-pick facts to fit that narrative. It’s been hard to watch people who profess tolerance twist themselves into hypocritical knots to justify the gross generalizations they make about anyone not in their preferred ingroups.

It is difficult to draw lines. Too much censorship happens when we claim that certain views are bigoted. We need to allow a wide range of views to be discussed so we can all be enlightened by different perspectives. But there are views that seem intolerant, and then there are false statements of fact that malign entire groups. And while we also have our First Amendment rights to utter those false statements, because the government cannot be trusted to fairly and accurately determine which accounts are sufficiently true or false, we as private individuals do not need to accept conspiracy theories and lies. These are the enemy of truth and enlightenment, and inclusivity.

Sephora has every right to keep Huda Beauty on its shelves.  That is part of the freedom we cherish. But if people profiting from messages of inclusivity promote millionaires parroting literal Nazi talking points, then inclusivity culture has fully jumped the shark.