"I would like to sincerely apologise for anyone who has been offended by this image [...] [Louis and I] had no intention of hurting anyone." Tilly Marsan says.

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6 January 2021 by Fachana Techamaneewat

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In late December, Enola Holmes' Louis Partridge (Tewkesbury) was involved in a "fox eye" trend controversy with The Lost Girls' co-star, Tallulah "Tilly" Marsan (Teen Jane).

 

Let's rewind.

 

For those who don't know, the "fox eye" trend is a trend where people pull their eyes back to make them look smaller. This trend has been called out by many as racist against Asians and a cultural appropriation.

 

In an Instagram Story, Tilly posted a photo where both she and Louis are doing a "fox eye" pose.

 

Many called her out for it and demanded a public apology. As a result of the backlash, Tilly posted a lengthy apology to her Instagram Stories.

 

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I “Hi, I just wanted to address the image that has been going around of me and Louis doing the ‘fox eye trend'.

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I "I have spoken w Louis and we both have said the same things."

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I "When we took the photo and posed in that way we had no idea that it would come across as racist and until recently we were both oblivious to the ‘fox eye trend' and it’s racist background."

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Tilly then apologises for the photo, and reiterated that she and co-star Louis had "no intention of hurting anyone."

 

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I "I would like to sincerely apologise for anyone who has been offended by this image and I hope you can understand that we had no intention of hurting anyone in any way."

 

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She continues by saying that she is now "educated" and aware of the issues behind the "fox eye" trend and will not be repeating the same mistake again.

 

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I "We have both been educated to the issue behind the ‘fox eye trend' and I can assure you now we know the issues that surround it we will never do it again."

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I "As someone who is entirely against racism and discrimination in any way I am extremely disappointed in myself for having not educated myself on the matter in the past."

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I "I hope that whoever we have offended will accept this apology and will understand that now that we are aware of the trend it will never happen again."

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Finally, Tilly ends her official apology by raising awareness to the racism behind the "fox eye" trend, stating that she hopes the trend will not be "normalised", and that people will not make the "same mistake" as she did.

 

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I "For anyone who is not aware of the racism behind the 'Fox Eye Trend' I am going to place some slides which will hopefully educate people in the future and help prevent this trend from being normalised, so people do not make the same mistake as myself.”

 

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Tilly also allegedly left a TikTok comment where she explained that they were imitating an "eboy" pose in the controversial picture.

 

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I "For anyone seeing this me and Louis had no intention of this image coming off offensice, we were innocently imitating the eboy pose! I am so sorry."

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I “To anyone who took offence to this, it will not happen again and was an innocent yet terrible mistake! We will learn from this in the future ❤️❤️"

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Did Louis apologise for the "fox eye" trend?

 

It is unclear whether Louis has apologized for the picture, although some fans have stated that he has.

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Why is the "fox eye" trend racist?

 

One Asian Twitter user explained that pulling the eyes back to get a "slanted" eye look, i.e., mimicking an Asian's eyes, was "unsettling".

 

She explains that Asians are often "taunted" and "made fun of" for their eyes so to see non-Asians attempt the look and getting "praised" for it was disconcerting.

 

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Another Asian user, Jiayang (@plumsoju), also uploaded a TikTok video talking about the trend. He explains that he had been the victim of racist remarks in high school, including incidents where students started "pulling back their eyes" at him.

 

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I “I immigrated here during highschool in the south. So on a weekly basis, I would have people going up to me pulling back their eyes and say racist stuff to me. (Yo, Ling Ling, go back to your country, do you eat dog stuff? Like that). [...] But now it’s a trend to have an Asian eye look. Yep, the 'fox eye trend'."

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He clarifies that it wasn't the fox eye "makeup" that was the problem, it was the "pose" itself.

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I "It’s not the makeup, but it’s the pose where non-Asian models literally pull their eyes back to create a slanted eye look, the ‘Asian eye’ look, and call it the 'fox eye trend'.

 

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He then explains that he was "super insecure" about how his eyes looked and was even "traumatized" during high school because of the constant bullying he received about his eyes.

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I "During high school, I was literally traumatized because every week I would get made fun of because of my eyes. I was super insecure about how my eyes look. But now because famous models are doing it, now it’s a ‘trend’."

 

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He continues to say that if "a majority of a community" says it's "offensive" to them, then it might actually be offensive to them.

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I "And when people like me, (Asians) speak up about this, say it’s racist and cultural appropriation, people would just say ‘oh, it’s just a trend’, ‘you guys are too soft’, ‘snowflakes’. If a majority of a community says it’s offensive to them, I don’t know, maybe it is offensive to them."

 

 

Who is Tilly Marson?

 

Tilly stars as Teen Jane alongside Louis Partridge (Peter Pan) in The Lost Girls. This new and darker take on the classic Peter Pan story will center around the Darling women, with themes of family, love and feminism.

 

Tilly Marsan (@t1llsss) currently has over 127k followers on TikTok.

 

Fun fact: Louis has cameoed in Tilly’s Tiktok videos a few times back in September last year.

 

 

The Lost Girls is currently in post-production and is set to release later this year.

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Read More: Louis Partridge Set To Star In Peter Pan Adaptation "Lost Girls" (2021)

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Read More: Louis Partridge Starstruck Over Harry Styles Backstage With Millie Bobby Brown 

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Read More: Millie Bobby Brown Was NERVOUS Meeting Louis Partridge? 

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