2 APOLOGIES + TOKENISM, EXPLAINED

So I did see the video that Nash reads posted this morning on TikTok. It is an apology around her podium entertainment Capone campaign. And in the video, she does I'm mentioned, I'm tagged. And she is pushing back against the notion that she's a token or was tokenized for this campaign. First, Nash is totally justified in calling me out and disagreeing with me, feeling offended by feeling disrespected by what I said. We're gonna move forward and we're gonna keep our eyes and our feet on the neck of the publishing industry. Who is ultimately responsible? Podium Entertainment is ultimately responsible. Just one example of greater publishing industry and book industry continues to play in the faces of Black authors, Black readers and Black content creators. Before I address the token pushback, two apologies: 1) saying you did book. I- I actually do believe that book after watching your apology video. And according to you, you knew that there was a disconnect between what you read and what you were told to do and say by Podium Entertainment. You knew there between their directives and their creative brief and what you read. So, I'm glad you took accountability for that. I also wanna apologize for saying that you used AI in the development of your video, whether it was to summarize the book's tropes and themes or developing your script. I did use of water, um, to ask a I about Capone by Jahquel J. and to see what it says. And AI got it right. AI got it right, which again underscores that Podium Entertainment made a choice to mischaracterize this book in its marketing, in this campaign with you, in an effort to appeal to a certain type mischaracterizing this book and couching this book in certain tropes and keywords to appeal to a certain type. They're not trying to court Black romance readers, Black urban romance the readers who follow Black romance book creators and urban romance book creators. They're trying to court the readers that are part of your audience, who primarily read fantasy, romantasy, dark romance, mafia and would never book like Capone face value if left to and curiosity. As my tokenism comment, yes, you should feel offended and disrespected by it. I would be offended and disrespected by being called a token. You better not self identify as a token. However, that does not mean tokenism place in this situation. Right one. Did not willingly or knowingly offer yourself up as not a token in this situation. I'm not even that you are a token regularly. I'm not even saying that you're a person. You allow yourself to be tokenized not even saying they found a book creator who can serve as a bridge between this Black urban romance book and the readers read this book, trying to convince to read this book. Black face who that reader is familiar with, trusts, reads the like to read to introduce this black urban romance book. They used you, unbeknownst to you. And a hallmark of tokenism is that when there is fallout, backlash, when things don't go their way, you're the one holding the gun. And externally and publicly, they've let you sword. You are the one issuing the apology to the black community. Apology was fine overall. Um, again, to accept the term token be tokenism. Listen, we all make mistakes, especially as content creators. The lessons will you'll move forward with more discernment and integrity. With your audience, I don't think much has been your followers might be disappointed, but I think the majority of your followers, they're fine. They're and again, they weren't gonna read Capone anyway. It's great that it on their