Why Was Emmanuel The Emu's Owner Taylor Blake Cancelled On TikTok? Controversy Explained

Posted by Arica Deslauriers on Sunday, May 19, 2024

Taylor Blake is a social media influencer who recently gained prominence for her Twitter and TikTok.

The social media influencer is known for being a member of Knuckle Bump Farms which is a farm that houses many animals which Blake showcases on the Internet.

She has amassed over 894.1K followers on her Twitter page, and over 2.4 million on her farm's TikTok.

The woman even appeared on Jimmy Fallon on July 22, 2022, showcasing her various animals.

Among all of these animals, the most famous one might be Emmanuel the Emu, who often interrupts her videos, which is part of the charm.

Recently, there has been a spread of bird flu on her farm which has taken the lives of over 50 of her birds and severely injured Emmanuel.

Blake has been publicizing the struggle she and her farm is currently going through, but amidst these struggles, her racist past has come out, leading people all over the Internet to look at the influencer differently.

Why Was Emmanuel The Emu's Owner Taylor Blake Cancelled On TikTok?

It turns out that becoming famous as an animal wrangler isn't Taylor Blake's first brush with fame.

In the early 2010s, Blake gained some notoriety on Twitter and later Vine by impersonating African American women. Not only did she appropriate African American culture, but she also insulted the same culture she was appropriating left and right.

As Blake gained more recognition on the Internet with her Emu videos, especially after she appeared on Jimmy Fallon, people started posting pictures and screenshots of her racist past on Twitter for everyone to see, and what they posted wasn't pretty.

According to these screenshots, Blake repeatedly made fun of various African American people, especially women, and made veiled threatening comments about them.

One tweet, in particular, had her stating that she wanted to run over a specific African American woman because she was walking too slowly. 

In Another Tweet, she tagged comedian Chelsea Handler. She asked if the comedian would adopt her as she had a talent for impersonating prominent African American women even though she was a skinny Caucasian girl. Lastly, the most bigoted tweet she made was that she was an African American girl trapped in a Caucasian girl's body.

These tweets were from 2011 and 2012 when Blake was in her mid to late teens.

As she got older, Blake's tune started changing, but her problematic behavior didn't. Around the mid-2010s, she started making Vines that affected African American Vernacular English and still kept acting like she was from that culture.

However, this time the influencer started saying that she was doing so in character. Another video showed her assuming the character of a "Karen," which is usually a racist Caucasian woman. Still, the things Blake said were eerily similar to something she'd always said back in 2011.

Lastly, during the women's march of 2016 and the rise of people speaking out about racism and misconduct in America, Blake tweeted that people should treat oppressors with love to be treated better.

Many people found offense with her comments stating that that's not how things work, but Blake deflected their remarks in a way that made many people think she was flaunting her privilege. 

Still, some people came to her defense, stating that the Taylor Blake in the resurfaced tweets is not the same person as the Taylor Blake from Knuckle Bump Farms, but enough people who were there during the initial tweets have come out and said that the two are the same people.

Blake, on the other hand, has not addressed the controversy as she is currently busy with the flu on her farm. As the Internet learns more and more about Taylor Blake's racist past, one would think that people would stop watching her videos. Still, people, especially African American people, complaints and warnings are nothing compared to sick animals, and Blake is as popular as ever.

What Happened To Taylor Blake's Farm And Emmanuel The Emu?

As stated above, Taylor Blake's Emu, Emmanuel, and all the birds from Knuckle Bump Farms suffer from avian flu.

According to Blake, this flue has been caused by an infection from wild Egyptian geese.

The influencer stated that these wild birds would fly into her farm every night, leading to the domesticated birds getting sick through contact with contaminated saliva, nasal secretions, and feces from other infected birds. Blake stated that many state officials believe that excess standing water from Hurricane Ian has made the virus more rampant.

There are two types of categories of Bird flu: low pathogenic avian influenza, also known as LPAI, and highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as HPAI. The first type causes little to no symptoms in birds, but both strains are highly contagious and deadly to birds.

According to experts, a combination of both is likely responsible for the colossal loss at Blake's farms. These experts also stated that HPAI has been spreading in Europe for about a year and has recently made its way to Canada.

However, the most focus people have been giving the farm now is how Blake has been handling the avian flu. Virologists and animal handlers have been raising concerns about how Blake has dealt with Emmanuel, the last of Blake's birds left. 

They have mainly had concerns with how Blake is cuddling with and kissing the bird, which they have stated is highly dangerous. Though people don't normally contract bird flu viruses, if they do, the infections can be fatal.

When viruses jump from birds to humans, there is a significant concern that the germ could undergo genetic changes that make it significantly easier to jump from person to person. 

This genetic change can set the stage for a flu pandemic. Blake has been handling her birds, especially Emannuel, with the same care and concern that one would show humans. But the thing is, Emannuel is not human, and birds need different care than Blake is giving him.

Experts all over Twitter have been cringing at the photos Blake has shared of her cuddling, kissing, and handling an ill Emanuel, and that too without any special equipment. 

Some experts have stated that some of the birds, even Emannuel, should be euthanized to stop the further spread of the virus, but Blake will hear none of it. 

Blake has stated that she doesn't wear any masks as it stresses out Emmanuel, but she takes other steps such as sanitizing her hands, clothes, body, and quarantines on the farm. Still, Experts have not been kind, with one Kirsten Lie-Nielsen, an author and homesteader at Hostile Valley Farm in Maine, calling Blake's attempts to save Emmanuel unforgivingly selfish due to how extremely contagious the virus is.

Is Taylor Blake Racist?

Unfortunately, it seems that Taylor Blake is indeed racist and also not as good an animal handler as people had hoped she was.

With all the screenshots that people, especially African American people, have been posting about Blake, one would have to be incredibly thick-headed to deny that she at least had a racist past.

Not many people say the kinds of things she says and can get away with it, but because of the timing of this avian flu and how much sympathy people, especially American people, have for animals, Blake seems to have largely escaped any retribution for her past actions.

More than enough people are asking she be forgiven, and some have even accused the same African American people of bringing up the screenshots for still being angry over something that happened years ago.

If one were to look at her Twitter, one would be forgiven for forgetting that any backlash has occurred because most of the comments and retweets are people praying for Emmanuel's health and the return of Blake's success.

So although Blake is a racist, she has not seen any amount of backlash necessary to be able to call her canceled.

Being canceled is largely a myth because not enough people care to cancel someone. After all, too many people have too many reasons to forgive or brush off racism, especially when it comes to Caucasians.

However, her attitude and authority as an animal caretaker are now under review because enough experts have called her and what she has been doing out to know that the woman is being cruel and selfish.

With the way things are going and what scientists are saying, Blake and her handling of Emmanuel will not cause a pandemic, but it is through her actions that a pandemic could occur.

The fact that Blake does not care and is so blinded by her love for her emu is sad. One can't help but wonder if she is trying so hard to keep Emmanuel alive because he is what people come to see her content for.

It's a horrible conjecture to make, but given Blake's racist past, one can't help but wonder about the lengths she is willing to go to. One can only hope that now that things have come so far, Emmanuel heals and that Blake faces backlash for her past.

Read More About TikTok Here: Twitter Reacts To Preppy Claws Face Reveal On TikTok

Some FAQs

Why Is Taylor Blake Canceled?

She hasn't been canceled but people have brought up her racist past tweets

What happened to Emannuel the Emu?

Emannuel the Emu is suffering from avian flu

Why are experts complaining about Taylor Blake?

Experts are complaining about how Taylor Blake is handling her sick birds

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