Trans influencer Nikita Dragun speaks out after Taylor Caniff’s disgusting transphobic video
Trans YouTuber Nikita Dragun has spoken out against transphobic comments that influencer Taylor Caniff made about her. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/Instagram/@taylorcaniff)
Trans YouTuber Nikita Dragun has spoken out against transphobic behaviour from influencer Taylor Caniff after he posted a vile video about her.
Nikita shared a video on her Instagram alongside the caption “STOP TRANS HATE”. The video began with Caniff recording Nikita leaving a venue with a friend. Caniff, who is part of a group of influencers called Magcon, then boasts in the video about outing Nikita to security guards and repeatedly misgenders her by calling her a “dude”.
Nikita appeared on screen after the clip ended, reflecting on the horrific incident. She shared that her “livelihood is constantly threatened” by just living her truth as a trans person.
“I try to be strong for you guys and hold my head up high and act like I’m not terrified that something like this will happen to me,” Nikita Dragun said “This is how trans people die.”
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She added it just takes “one ignorant, transphobic comment to threaten my entire livelihood”, and she feared for the “people that are with me” because of anti-trans hate. Nikita then spoke out against anti-trans violence, saying the horrific experience could have happened to “somebody not as lucky”.
“This time it was me. Next time it could be somebody else – somebody not as lucky,” Nikita said.
“We must stop trans hate because it leads to trans violence and people lose their lives or even worse, they take their own lives because experiencing things like this just breaks my heart and my entire world, and it’s disgusting and I won’t stand for it.”
Nikita Dragun’s video has garnered more than 3,800,000 views on Instagram, and she also shared the clip of Caniff’s transphobic comments on her Twitter, where it quickly went viral.
In a later tweet about the situation, Nikita wrote that Caniff accused her of coming forward about the transphobic incident “for clout” before he said that he is “bisexual”. She then proceeded to tell him to sit his “transphobic ass down”, and it was “sad” that she even gave him “any kind [of] attention”.
this man is on his live saying i’m doing this for clout and he’s bisexual… sir u haven’t been relevant since magcon. sit ur TRANSPHOBIC ass down. it’s sad i even gave u any kind attention @taylorcaniff— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) June 15, 2021
Caniff then replied to the comment by threatening to “leak some real info”. He then accused her of “changing for clout” before saying he speaks “facts”.
You want me to leak some real info nah you been doing this 2015?! You would hate that, you change to trending seasons ….Keep changing for clout. I speak FACTS. What I said was facts. https://t.co/8HFOnKgcrr— Taylor Caniff (@taylorcaniff) June 15, 2021
A recording of Caniff’s Instagram Live session where he delved further into the situation was uploaded by YouTuber Def Noodles on Twitter. In the clip, Caniff claimed his friends were responsible for leaking the transphobic clip and that it was a “joke” he meant to share with “140 people”. He said he sent Nikita a “full apology” before adding that he was just “speaking facts”.
2ND HAND EMBARRASSMENT: Taylor Caniff does live addressing the transphobic comments he made about Nikita Dragun. Taylor blames people in his “close friends” for leaking the footage, and later says he reached out to Nikita to apologize. pic.twitter.com/jX26axd1PS— Def Noodles (@defnoodles) June 15, 2021
But Nikita Dragun said in a later tweet that even a “simple misgender or side comment” could cost trans people “our lives”. She explained: “Trans lives are constantly under attack. Simply living [your] life becomes a threat to the ignorant.”
Trans lives are constantly under attack. simply living ur life becomes a threat to the ignorant. a simple misgender or side comment could cost us our lives.
— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) June 15, 2021
