TikTok star Kallmekris has apologized after posting a YouTube video slamming a book genre wildly popular with Booktok creators.
Over the last few years, Kallmekris has amassed over 50 million followers on TikTok with her comedic skits featuring various characters she created.
The Canada-born influencer has made her way over to YouTube as well, where she’s grown to over 11M followers with her constant uploads where she reacts to various things like the weirdest TikTok videos, viral trends, and more.
On Saturday, January 11, Kris posted a video sharing her thoughts about various romantasy books shared by popular BookTok creators on TikTok.
While reviewing Fifty Shades of Grey, Kris said ‘romantasy’ books are “poorly written” and “seldom have healthy relationships” between the main characters of the story. She went on to talk about another book called Ice Breaker, insulting the design of the cover in the process.
She said: “What is the hype about? This cover, it looks like a kid’s cover. I was confused, to say the least. It’s just lacking overall in plot for me, and the amount of spice in this book is a lot. I was shocked.”
Users quickly flocked to the comments to share their thoughts, with many of them unhappy with Kris’ thoughts about their favorite reads.
One user commented: “Women should be able to read whatever they want to without being shamed for it.”
“Caring this much about what other people like reading is wild,” a third replied.
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BookTok creators quickly began posting videos about Kris’ opinion on TikTok, prompting the Canadian creator to unlist her YouTube video and issue an apology on Tuesday, January 14.
KallmeKris issues apology over book review video
In the five-minute apology on her TikTok page, she explained her intentions behind the BookTok review video.
“I thought it would make a really fun, lighthearted video. I was not meant to be serious in the least. It didn’t go as I thought it would go,” she said before explaining that the initial reception was positive, but then she began receiving backlash.
“I really did upset people, that is not what I wanted to do at all,” she said. “I missed the mark. I tried to make jokes. Some people liked them, others didn’t. It’s completely valid.”
“At the end of the day I tried to do something with full intention of it being light-hearted, but I don’t have an excuse as to why it came off so obtuse to a large group of people. I just want to take that video and your valid criticism and apply it to my other videos,” she added.
“I never ever want to upset anyone and I hope that everyone knows that.”
This backlash comes just days before the ByteDance-owned app is set to be banned in the United States on January 19, 2025, with TikTok revealing that it will shut down on that date.