Olivia Jade Posts About George Floyd Protests, Says Her 'Privilege' Makes Her 'Feel Awful'
Lori Loughlin's daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli is urging her Instagram followers to better understand their "white privilege" in an effort to combat racism.
Olivia Jade, 20, posted an Instagram Story addressing the nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd on Sunday, saying "not being racist is not enough" and that action needs to be taken.
"If you hear people saying disrespectful things. CORRECT THEM. Don't sit there & allow this to continue happening," she wrote. "[And if] someone saying something like 'no one is around that it offends.' Or 'It's a joke' IT SHOULD OFFEND all of us because it's outright wrong and disgusting that humans talk/treat other HUMANS the way we've seen. Explain how it's not funny at all. How actually ignorant it sounds. How uneducated you sound when u [sic] are are undermining what black people had had to deal with for generations. Speak up!!!"
She admitted that as a "person who is born into privilege based on my skin color & financial situation I was not always aware that these issues were still so present. And that makes me feel awful. But that also fuels me."
The YouTuber said she wants to "learn more and do more and be better for all my beautiful black friends and any other person who faces discrimination."
Olivia Jade/Instagram
She continued: "I'm not racist and I never have been but I need to speak up about this because just not being racist isn't enough. It out rages [sic] me. It makes me feel sick. It brings me to tears. THERE SHOULD NOT BE SUCH A GAP BETWEEN PEOPLE LIKE THIS."
Olivia Jade said the key to making a change is for other social groups to align with the black community.
"'We need to support and stand up and speak and USE OUR WHITE PRIVILEGE TO STOP THIS. We need to stop complaining about the smallest things because the black community are fearful of dying and being oppressed every single day just on the way they look and how they were born," she wrote. "Time to step up and keep making noise because this cannot continue to happen. IT'S DISGUSTING."
But shortly after she posted, people online accused Olivia Jade of being "tone deaf" and the "definition of white privilege" because her parents pled guilty to charges stemming from the college admissions cheating scandal. (The Full House actress and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of paying $500,000 to falsely designate Olivia Jade and elder daughter Isabella Rose Giannulli as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team, even though neither of them ever participated in the sport. If the judge accepts their formal plea agreements on Friday, Loughlin, 55, Giannulli, 56, would serve two months and five months in prison, respectively.)
"No one wants to hear your take on white privilege," one person tweeted. "No one."
Over the weekend, protests against police brutality and systemic racism unfolded across the country. Some some of them have turned destructive and violent.
RELATED: George Floyd's Girlfriend Pleads for Peace at Protests, Says Destruction Would 'Devastate' Him
The demonstrations began last week in Minneapolis when footage of Floyd — an unarmed black man who died after a white police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck — began circulating online.
Derek Chauvin, the officer involved in the incident, has been fired from his post and was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter on Friday. Outraged Americans have continued to storm their cities in dissent of racial inequality and police brutality.
