Ari Fletcher Says She Didn’t Pay to Be in British ‘Vogue’

Ari Fletcher announced Thursday she would appear in the May issue of British Vogue. And, of course, the haters immediately tried to ruin her proud moment.

“Really at a lost for words! Ari for VOGUE @britishvogue 😩🔥 So thankful,” she wrote on Instagram. “… The official release is April and I just found out today that I’ll be in the May issue as well. WOW 🥺❤️ I can’t wait to give all my family and friends official copies of the magazine…”

The post included a series of photos in which Fletcher is rocking a custom design by Haus of Traviance LLC (H.O.T). One of the images she shared featured Vogue’s iconic logo in the backdrop, leading some to believe that she was tapped to appear on the upcoming cover or misleading fans into thinking that was the case.

It’s crucial to note Fletcher never claimed to be a Vogue cover star and was simply celebrating her appearance in the magazine. A number of trolls tried to downplay the milestone by pointing out that Fletcher’s photos were part of a paid advertisement. That criticism was fueled by comments left by Instagram user @brooklynhannaj, who claimed to be an editor at British Vogue.

“Being in our advertising section is VERY different from being ‘featured’ in our publication,” @brooklynhannaj wrote. “Anyone can purchase advertising space in our classifieds. Using a fake font of our masthead to insinuate you are in our publications coveted cover space is incredibly insulting to our actual cover stars. She was simply a model in a designer’s paid advertisement space.”

It didn’t take long before others to conclude @brooklynhannaj was a fake.

Although the account has since been deactivated, the hate continued to pour in on social media, with some claiming  Fletcher’s appearance in a paid advertisment was nothing to celebrate. Thankfully for Fletcher, her fans were quick to come to her defense.

Fletcher also responded to her critics in a series of tweets over the past day, insisting she didn’t buy her way into the magazine. “Baby, if I could pay to be in VOGUE I would’ve been in there a long time ago,” she wrote. “People are truly sick. It’s so sad that people actually try to steal people joy. Play with the internet all you want, this is chess not checkers.”

Read Ari Fletcher’s tweets on the issue below.