The remark was made by Buckley’s sister, Terry-Anne, prompting backlash against the business and criticism of how Buckley initially responded.
Kia Buckley is the owner of Kikiva, a lifestyle activewear brand that has over 135,000 Instagram followers. The Lazy CEO podcast hailed it as one of the most popular athleisure brands in Australia.
Buckley has cemented her status as one of Perth’s biggest influencers, particularly among young women. In the online community, Kia Buckley refers to herself as ‘Ceocita’, the alter-ego account that encourages young women to become entrepreneurs and follow their passions.
On an Instagram Live on Friday October 9, Kia Buckley was answering questions while doing a ‘get ready with me’ when her sister, Terry-Anne (mainly known as ‘Tez’), entered the room and said, “What up (n-word)”.
Kia Buckley quickly announced she was on live, continued to answer questions before the comments asked what Terry-Anne said. Kia Buckley then claimed her sister said “What up sissys” because she is allegedly always naked. The Live was then quickly ended after more questions.
Quickly, screen recordings of the incident were shared online, and within a day the video went viral. Customers were quick to respond, with many consumers sharing videos of them throwing out their Kikiva gear in disappointment.
Nearly a week later, Kia Buckley posted a statement to her TikTok story, apologising for the slur and the Instagram Live.
“I want to make it clear that I do not condone racism in any form,” Buckley wrote.
“After this incident occurred, I ended the live immediately, spoke directly with the person involved and told them in no uncertain terms that this language was unacceptable.
“They expressed genuine remorse for what they said and acknowledged the hurt their words have caused.”
However, since then, the backlash for Kikiva has only escalated, with multiple creators calling on people to stop supporting the business.
Creator Ameer Mach posted on TikTok asking consumers to think ethically about where they are shopping and claimed the apology was not enough.
“If you are still shopping at Kikiva after seeing that live, I’m sorry I don’t know what to tell you,” Mach said.
“I am so sick of brands and influencers showing their true colours, and then once they get called out on it, they drop this vague a** apology and just forget about it.”
Sydney podcast host Abbie Chatfield said the Kikiva situation only highlights Australia’s casual racism, with Chatfield believing Australians aren’t educated enough on why slurs are harmful.
“Genuinely concerning to see the reaction to the Kikiva live,” Chatfield wrote.
“Individuals will act the way they act, but as a society we need to have a reasonable response. And I wouldn’t say defending the use of that word by a white person is really reasonable?”
Most notably this year, Kikiva launched their first store inside Karrinyup shopping centre, where hundreds of people lined up outside the centre from 7 pm the night before to be the first customers inside.
After the scandal, users are leaving one-star Google reviews on Kikiva’s page.
On Wednesday October 21, Buckley returned to TikTok to post a second apology, this time with Buckley talking to the camera.
In the apology, Buckley explains she understands the harm the slur causes and takes responsibility as the business owner.
“At the end of the day, this was said on my platform and in my household, so I need to take full responsibility,” Buckley said.
“I know I have handled this terribly, and I know my statement was wrong.”
On Instagram, the Kikiva account posted another apology that explained Kia will complete cultural learning.
“Kia will meet with Elders and community knowledge holders to listen, understand the harm we have caused, and learn how to do better,” the statement was captioned.
“We are committed to doing much more and to doing better, and we will share what we learn along the way.”
“We know our customers and this community place their trust in us, and we will work to earn it back.”
Buckley has not posted since the apology.
Clare Perrott
Clare Perrott is a Journalism and Broadcasting student at ECU with a strong passion for arts, culture and education.
