Nara Smith, a popular Tiktok star, has risen in popularity in the past few months and become a heated topic of debate. Her videos start off simple, crafting typical store-bought goods from scratch to feed her kids and husband—Lucky Blue Smith, a famous model like Nara herself. Whether it be cereal, Cheez-its, or granola bars, Nara simply has a passion for homemade treats.
With her modest designer dresses, cute aprons, and short straight hair, viewers initially saw Smith’s life as perfect. The videos were short, 60 second clips of her prepping and baking with a soft and relaxing voice. At first, they garnered positive comments, where viewers praised her for making such easy, yet delicious recipes and keeping her family healthy and happy.
Her content also consists of “Day in the life” and “Get ready with me” posts where she showcases the average parts of her life. The videos aren’t much different than the average influencer, but due to her famous husband and wealthy lifestyle, her account began gaining traction. However, this sudden growth in popularity was for all the wrong reasons.
The negativity began when people commented on her identity as a mixed-race woman. Many believe that by creating content that is not empowering, but rather regressive, she is continuing the cycle of racism that overpowers celebrities of color. These traits, cooking, cleaning, housework, are continuously linked to white housewives in America. Many netizens despised the idea of her fitting into this narrative rather than simply being a twenty three year old woman. However, this was the first of many ridicules she faced within her Tik-Tok career.
It got worse. People began digging to find whatever personal information they could on the family, wanting to have some reason to bring hate to the comment sections. Online culture in recent years has cemented normalcy in people picking apart a small aspect of a person’s life. A culture that has sprouted with internet forums and comment spaces. For Smith, they targeted the lifestyle she acclimated to after marrying Lucky. Mormonism.
They claimed that Nara Smith was subtly promoting Mormonism to masses, criticizing her modest outfits and straightening of her naturally curly hair. Her videos also promoted the lifestyle many Mormons follow, making food from scratch and being the “perfect housewife.
Not only that, at the age of twenty-three she already has three children, not including the one from Lucky’s previous relationship. This only added to a speculation of Nara Smith being brainwashed into a new way of living. To many, she was leaving behind her culture and becoming the poster girl for a religion that is known for discrimination against people of color. The hate comments flooded with people saying that Smith was “making people to join a cult” and “influencing her followers to become Mormon.”
Yet, Smith didn’t address those comments, rather, she made an explanation video on one topic, the reason why she made so much of her food from scratch. The video delineated that from a young age, Nara had horrible eczema flare ups causing scalp and facial problems. When she became a model, the scars and marks weren’t good for her shoots and she needed a solution. Her grandmother was constantly making food from scratch which helped her scars and thus, Smith began doing the same for both her and her family.
What many don’t realize is that most of Nara’s videos are satire. She wears elaborate name brand dresses, does full makeup looks, and talks in a low, soft, barely audible voice as she explains what she is cooking. Over the summer she created a brand of sunscreen and just recently she and Lucky made hair gel. The comments are still furious, this time warning her about SPF and regulations.
It’s evident that she is simply joking around, and the amount of people who think otherwise is what makes her continue. Even if Smith is only messing with the angry online accounts in her comment section, it sparks an interesting conversation about how far netizens are willing to go just to cancel someone. While Nara’s career as a model may not be fazed, hundreds of others are at risk of it as more and more put their personal lives online for trolls to see.
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