Overview

"Fix Your Skin Color" Kailey Sheldon WVU Girl Controversy refers to a September 2025 controversy surrounding an insult made by West Virginia University (WVU) student Kailey Sheldon directed at a Black man, which many perceived as racist. She was caught in a viral video, originally posted as a Reel by Instagram user @official.snarp, saying, "Fix your skin color," after the guy said, "Fix your makeup." Internet users then attempted to expose and cancel Sheldon as they unearthed her photos on social media and mocked her appearance in response. Kailey Sheldon is Asian-American, and some viewers expressed a belief that she purportedly wanted to be white, based on her makeup and hair seen in her photos. Sheldon later released an apology on her Instagram, @kailey.sheldon, following the backlash.

Background

On September 17th, 2025, Instagram^[1] user @official.snarp shared a video of Instagram^[2] user @iamkervinazor trolling students at West Virginia University (WVU) by wearing a shirt donning the logo of their rival school, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt).

In the video, @iamkervinazor tells an Asian female student that she's cringe and then says, "Fix your makeup." She replies by saying, "Fix your skin color." Over nine days, the video received over 1.2 million likes.

On September 19th, TikToker^[2] @n0ty0uagain shared a video in which he revealed the girl's name, Kailey Sheldon, and showed a photo from her Instagram^[7] account @kailey.sheldon. He said, "She says she doesn't like our skin color but you can see she sits in a tanning bed trying to get darker." Over one week, the video received over 239,400 likes.

Also on September 19th, 2025, Twitter / X ^[3] user @FearedBuck reposted the original video, gaining over 25,000 likes in a week.

In the replies, various users shared images from Sheldon's social media, like X^[4] user @suayrez, who captioned a screenshot of an Instagram^[7] post, "Welcome folks," gaining over 5,200 likes in a week.

Developments

Kailey Sheldon's Apology

On September 19th, 2025, Kailey Sheldon shared a story on Instagram^[8] that several TikTokers^[5][6] screenshotted and reposted. She wrote, "I wanted to start by holding myself accountable for the comment I made … I realize how incredibly hurtful, offensive, and unacceptable those words were and it's one of the most arrogant comments I have ever made."

She wrote in the next post, "At the same time, I need to address what has followed. My family has been receiving hate and even threats, which is not okay whatsoever."

Online Reactions

In the following days, various internet users spread the controversy on social media as it inspired discourse in mid-to-late September 2025.

For instance, on September 19th, 2025, X^[10] user @trouble_scott quote-tweeted @FearedBuck's repost, writing, "There’s always that one Asian girl who wants to be white so bad," gaining over 99,000 likes in a week.

On September 21st, TikToker^[5] @ericcouu shared a video in which he talked about Asian people purportedly being racist and further condemned Sheldon's actions. Over five days, his video received over 278,800 likes.

Also on September 21st, 2025, X^[9] user @boobz_w quote-tweeted the original video, writing, "'POC solidarity' MFs will scroll past this video and go back to subtweeting black people," gaining over 1,000 likes in five days.

Search Interest

External References