Jesy Nelson loses 51,000 followers after Nicki Minaj live and blackfishing row – but Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne gains 74k
JESY Nelson has lost over 51,000 followers on Instagram as her blackfishing row with former Little Mix bandmate Leigh-Anne Pinnock rages on, The Sun can reveal.
The fallout first unfolded when an influencer leaked messages allegedly sent by Leigh-Anne that asked him to do a video exposing Jesy for being a "blackfish" on Sunday following the release of her debut single Boyz.
Jesy's look in the music video sparked claims she was blackfishing - a term used when a white person uses black culture and aesthetics for their own gain - when it was released last week.
And as the furore rages on, The Sun can reveal that Jesy has lost over 51,000 followers so far on her Instagram.
According to SocialBlade, a website that tracks social media statistics and analytics, the star has seen a steep decline in her following since Sunday.
After five days, Jesy now stands at 8,433,812, having previously had a total of 8,485,192 followers.
Meanwhile, Leigh-Anne's social media following has increased by over 74,000.
On Saturday, she stood at 7,765,241 and as the fallout continued, she currently rests at 7,839,672, averaging 14,886 new followers a day on Instagram.
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Despite the Instagram peaks and troughs over the past five days, Jesy still has nearly 600,000 more followers than Leigh-Anne.
The social media following comes days after Jesy claimed that she'd not been criticised for her image before going solo, but we revealed that Leigh-Anne had warned Jesy against the look when she was still in the girl group last year.
🔵 Read our Jesy Nelson live blog for the latest updates
And in an Instagram livestream with collaborator Nicki Minaj, Jesy confessed that the conversation did take place - after giggling while US rapper Nicki savagely laid into her former bandmate on Monday.
Referencing Leigh-Anne and bandmate Jade Thirlwall, Jesy said: "I was in a group with two women of colour for 10 years and it was never brought up to me until the last music video I did with them when Leigh-Anne messaged me…"
Defending her image, Jesy also told livestream viewers: "My intention was never to offend people of colour with this video and my song.
"I just want to touch on the whole tanning thing as well, when I was in the video with you [Nicki], I didn't have fake tan on. I'd been in Antigua prior to that for three weeks.
"I'm really lucky as a white girl I tan so much. Leigh-Anne even said to me in the group: 'Are you sure you're not mixed race because you go darker than me in the sun!'
"My hair is naturally curly, I got it from my dad - I wanted to get a wig that emulated the same texture as my hair and I genuinely didn't think I was doing anything wrong."
FALLOUT
Leigh-Anne, 30, is believed to have accused Jesy of “blackfishing” — when a white person uses black culture to further their career or online presence.
In messages thought to have been sent from Leigh-Anne’s account to influencer No Hun and shared to his 341,000 followers via a live stream, the star wrote: “She blocked us. Cut us off. Horrible person.”
After No Hun asked his fans if he should make up a dance routine to Boyz, Leigh-Anne replied: “No. Do a video about her being a blackfish instead.”
The situation escalated further when Jesy went live with Nicki Minaj to address the blackfishing claims.
While Jesy did not address the Leigh-Anne situation directly, she laughed as Nicki ranted and savaged her former bandmate, and later thanked her for defending her.
Later, Nicki took ANOTHER swipe at Leigh-Anne before quickly deleting it.
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In light of the row, several of Little Mix's famous friends have unfollowed Jesy including Anne Marie.
Paloma Faith and MNEK have also supported the group publicly since the argument erupted.
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