‘Covidiot’ blogger Arielle Charnas may have ruined her brand

April 02, 2020


Using her personal connections might have just cost her future ones.

Arielle Charnas, the influencer who sparked outrage after using her hookups to get tested for COVID-19, posted a weepy video to her Instagram stories Thursday of herself apologizing through tears for the faux pas — while claiming her family has received death threats.

“Just wanted to come on here and say I’m sorry,” Charnas, 32, said while wiping a tear with the back of her hand. “Um, I never in a million years wanted to hurt anyone and, um, we’re not bad people.”

However, the Something Navy blogger’s decision to uproot her family after the positive diagnosis has the internet seething, with some reaching out to Nordstrom, the retailer she had a splashy collaboration with last year.

“Our partnership with Arielle Charnas ended in 2019, and we have no foreseeable collaborations,” Nordstrom tweeted to an angry fan Wednesday. The brand also responded to several others noting the relationship has since ended.

Charnas first started documenting her illness to her 1.3 million followers on March 16 and announced in her stories that she had tested positive for the coronavirus, thanks to her friend Dr. Jake Deutsch providing the test.

Critics slammed the New York City-based blogger for using her “privilege” to obtain one of the treasured tests — even after she had said she didn’t meet the criteria.

“I’m sorry for anyone I’ve offended or hurt over the last couple of weeks,” Charnas continued in the latest video. “We’re just trying to navigate through this difficult time as I’m sure so many people are. And, um, I’m just sorry I let down my community in any way.”

Charnas said that she’s trying to focus on her family, claiming, “We’ve been receiving horrible threats and I just felt like it was time for me to share my truth, which I did.”

Wearing a red, white and blue Champion jacket, Charnas tells her fans that she made “every effort to do the right thing through this process.”

“I hope you all can see that despite the mistakes I made,” she said. “Anyway I’m thinking of you all and I hope everyone stays safe and healthy.”

The tearful video come hours after Charnas posted a lengthy letter to her fans on Instagram as well as her website.

“I am not writing this to make excuses and I am not searching for validation; I want to share the truth behind the story and above all else, express my sincerest remorse,” Charnas wrote.

Charnas says in the letter that news headlines made her “experience the same fear, panic and worry the entire country has been feeling ever since.”

“You’ve likely read stories about my recent life choices in the media and other social channels over the past few weeks. And I get it,” she wrote. “I’m in the public eye and I’ve built my career on letting people into basically every part of my life.”

After Charnas tested positive, the social media star posted a picture of herself outdoors in front of a pool in the Hamptons with the caption “fresh air.” She also attended her 4-year-old daughter’s preschool classroom days before testing positive, reporter Sophie Ross tweeted.

“Critics’ voices have been very loud, hurtful and largely misinformed,” she wrote. “I’ve been accused of falsifying my own test results which is unequivocally untrue. I’ve also been receiving death threats against my entire family including my two young daughters.”

Charnas continues her letter to explain what led to her decisions, including giving her fans descriptions of the symptoms for their own benefits.

“When I started to share my personal health updates, it was done with the intention to keep a sense of normalcy during a time where everything felt upside down,” she wrote.

Charnas said that she first began tracking her symptoms on March 13 and spoke with her pediatrician on March 19, who reportedly told Charnas that the symptoms sounded like the flu.

“Being the anxious mother I am, I wasn’t comfortable with a single opinion,” she wrote. “In desperation, I reached out to a doctor I had previously met to ask his advice”

The influencer added that since she tested positive, her husband and her childrens’ nanny have since tested positive as well. Her nanny has chosen to quarantine with the family instead of return home.

“We count ourselves incredibly fortunate to have had such prompt access to medical care and understand that is far from the reality for the vast majority of people in this country,” Charnas wrote.

  • Share:

You Might Also Like

0 comments