Internet personality and OnlyFans performer Farha Khalidi said in a podcast that she was “blackfaced” for creating “political propaganda” ads for the Biden administration on TikTok.
Khalidi and another former Muslims OnlyFans performer, Jazzmen Jafar, joined political science researcher and commentator Richard Hanania on his podcast to discuss how to make money online through TikTok. In a clip of the podcast posted to X (formerly Twitter), Hanania begins by asking Khalidi whether he started making money on TikTok and OnlyFans while in school. (Related: Meet the former lawmaker who spearheaded TikTok’s multimillion-dollar lobbying effort on Capitol Hill)
“So you were in school? You were still in college when you started TikTok, right? Or did you start OnlyFans while you were in school?” Hanania asked.
“No, I started TikTok during the spring semester of my senior year in college, and I thought, ‘Damn, I finally have to apply to law school. It’s so easy.”For women. Obviously, I was lucky. No, I’m just kidding. [But] Luckily, TikTok was basically full time for me. By the time I graduated from college, I was covering ads for the Biden administration, Planned Parenthood, and dating apps. So it’s kind of completely supported me financially,” Halliday said.
Hanania noted that Khalidi claims he is making money from the Biden administration, to which the social media personality said he was creating “political propaganda” ads. admitted that he had done so. As an example, Khalidi was asked to promote then-Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson “as a brown man” after he was nominated by President Biden to serve as a high court judge.
“So the Biden administration was buying ads from you?” Hania asked.
“Yes, I was doing political propaganda through and through,” Halliday said.
Farha Khalidi spoke about how agents of the Biden administration engaged in identity politics and tried to pay her to promote their message.
An example of racial division as a top-down phenomenon. They are literally buying TikTok influencers. pic.twitter.com/nJWGvsLlMu
— Richard Hanania (@Richardhanania) April 26, 2024
“Well, really? Biden just seemed to be creating something.” [jobs]–” Hananiah began.
“Yeah, honestly. The funny thing is, they’re like, ‘Please don’t publish this as an ad.’ [were], something like, “Technically speaking, it’s not a product, so there’s no need to make it clear that it’s an advertisement.” Because I think they just wanted to tell people, edgy girls of color, for example. Like when they nominated Ketanji Brown-Jackson, they asked, “Can we say, ‘As a person of color’? ‘Do we feel reflected?'” Halliday relayed.
“It’s like a white woman emailed me and gave me this script. And I’m like, ‘No,’ and she’s like, ‘Please,’ and I’m like, ‘No.’ I’m going to talk about this news, but I’m not going to have white people say, “This is how I feel as a person of color.” That’s just the way it is, and I think there’s been a little bit more political propaganda because of black people. ”
Khalidi later revealed that the Biden administration was using a “pipeline” through third-party media companies, but Hanania criticized the message sent to viewers through the ads.
“So the Biden administration is recognizing, ‘Oh, here’s this young, dark-skinned person–‘” Haniania began.
“I mean, they’re using a conduit. I mean, you know what I mean? It’s not Biden, but it’s like a third party. You know what I mean? It’s like the media companies are doing it for him. I don’t blame him for this,” Halliday said.
“So, the message is like, ‘You’re going to be inspired by Ketanji Brown Jackson because you’re a dark-skinned woman, and all your kids should support her? ”’ Hananiah approached him.
“Yeah, they basically [saying], “Can I just say that as a fellow black person, I feel reflected in Ketanji?” I’m like, “No, I’ll talk about Ketanji’s career and achievements,” but I don’t know what I’m trying to say. do you understand? I never say — I never say platitudes, even if it was a brown person emailing me,” Halliday said.
Since taking office in 2021, the Biden administration has used influencers to promote not only the campaign but also the White House’s message. Ahead of the president’s 2024 State of the Union address, Biden invited dozens of social media creators to the White House to brief them on his message in advance. according to Go wired.
But some online influencers have begun criticizing Biden after he endorsed and signed a bill that includes provisions that could potentially ban TikTok in the United States. The recently signed law gives ByteDance, TikTok’s CCP-affiliated parent company, about nine months to sell the platform to continue operating in the country.
Lawmakers are rallying behind tighter restrictions on platform owners following reports that US-based TikTok executives “colluded” in handing over US users’ data to China. However, TikTok denies the allegations.
