Lily Macapinlac, who goes by the moniker Lily May Mac, is a 22-year-old Instagram model based in Australia. Her parents are Filipino.
Lily has had considerable success as a social media influencer, as she now has over three million Instagram followers. Just recently, though, she came under fire for controversial tweets that she had posted in 2012 and 2013—when she was just a teen.
In these tweets, she expressed her preference for "white boys." Here are some of the tweets:
It is no longer clear who has brought up Lily's old tweets after all these years. Nonetheless, critics are having a field day bashing her for being racist.
The New York Post reports that Lily's mom Elsie came to her defense, saying, "She's pure Pinoy, [but] not really proud 'cause of the mentality of the Pinoy. That's why we migrated to Australia."
Meanwhile, Lily has apologized for her old tweets. "I want to say sorry for what I said when I was obviously [closed-minded] and away from the public eye," she said.
In light of what is resurfacing, I want to say sorry for what I said when I was obviously closeminded & away from public eye.
— Lily (@lilymaymac) May 4, 2017
She later posted another tweet, still apologizing for what she said in the past.
My sense of humour was distasteful back then & Im sorry if I've offended anyone. It was never my intention. Please trust that I have matured
— Lily (@lilymaymac) May 6, 2017
Let this be a lesson to us all to be more discerning about the things we post on our social media pages.