Jeffree Star slammed by Perez Hilton for ICE jokes

Jeffree Star is continuing his right-wing slant following weeks of controversial comments about transgender and nonbinary people.

Most recently, the makeup influencer found himself in hot water with the Latino community after making a joke about ICE that was directed towards a Latino creator during a recent TikTok Livestream.

On Monday, Star went live with two influencers, and at one point, a young Latino man in a room with a red light joined the livestream and interacted with the TikTokers before leaving abruptly. It seemed like one of the creators wanted to engage in an exchange before the young man left, and this is when Star said, "Huh. I’m just surprised they have red lights in the deportation centers," which seemed to stun the other influencers who were on the livestream with him.

On that same livestream, more guests joined later on, and they seemed to be joking about something before Star threw out another barb about ICE, saying, "I know what Jessica’s thinking. She’s like, I’m calling ICE.” These jokes did not land well with social media users, especially Latino influencers, who called him out for them, including celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton.

Star's remarks came the week after an ICE agent named Jonathan Ross shot and killed a woman named Renee Good as she was attempting to leave the scene during a "targeted operation" that was being carried out by ICE.

"Whether you’re for or against the deportations, I don’t think this is a joking matter," Hilton said in a video recapping the interaction. "I don’t find it funny.”

One of the influencers on the live, Jessica Dimon, was pressed by her fans to speak on the interaction with Star and why she did not speak up in the moment. "I take full accountability for not speaking up, standing up, or responding as I should have. I am 100% against ICE and everything ICE is doing," she wrote in a text post uploaded to her TikTok story. "I apologize to anyone I have hurt by not defending.”

Star defended his jokes in the comments section of one of his TikTok posts, which is now filled with people lambasting him for his remarks. He responded to a fan who said they were disappointed in him by saying, "I absolutely do not side with anyone; it was a dark humor joke on a live stream for five seconds.” In a different comment, Star pushed back at his fans and said, "Why would I care, people can joke about whatever they want.”

Star's comment falls in line with his most recent controversial comments where he says he's "not gay" and is "just open and very me" on a podcast back in November. On that same podcast, he advocated for the LGBTQ+ acronym to no longer have the "Q" or the "T," before giving his opinion on trans people, saying, "Why are we encouraging our kids to be a different gender and feed them false information when they're so young?"