TikToker Claira Janover opened up about receiving death threats for criticizing "All Lives Matter" arguments that conservatives used to delegitimize Black Lives Matter (BLM) and activists who have engaged in an ongoing nationwide conversation about racial injustice and police brutality.
In the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd and protests around the country, Janover posted a video in which she analogized "All Lives Matter" and Black Lives Matter to someone who has a papercut and someone who has been stabbed.
At the time, Janover joked that certain people have the "sheer nerve" to stab you only to then, "while you're bleeding out, [say] I'm gonna show you my paper cut and say 'my cut matters, too."
You can watch the video below.
But in an interview with Insider, Janover suggested that her video was more trouble than it was worth because it went viral and caused her to be doxxed by supporters of Republican President Donald Trump who'd been egged on by an inflammatory post by far-right activist Jack Posobiec.
Soon, a video that she says was meant to be satirical and hyperbolic resulted in her "getting like tens of thousands of really hateful messages that were just really grotesque," including rape threats and death threats.
She said:
"These messages weren't just – 'I hate you. I'm going come murder you and your family,' which it was like a lot of the time – but a lot of the time it was also going into deep description of other ways in which they would assault me –- sexual violence and like rape and gang bang."
"So that was something that I know that none of those messages would've been sent to a straight male."
Janover was a student at Harvard University during this period and had a job offer lined up with Deloitte, a renowned firm that provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax, and legal services to professionals worldwide. She says that her family and friends advised her to "get ahead of" the attacks and to notify the company because of doxxers who'd found her LinkedIn profile.
But after sending an email with pictures of the death threats she received, threatening messages sent to her mother's Facebook account, and the Nazi propaganda memes that were being spread about her, Deloitte's management rescinded their job offer, telling her that the company "cannot have somebody work for us who in any shape, way, or form endorses or promotes violence, even if it was satirical."
The experience put off Janover—who says she "grew up with a very politically-active mom" and went to both polls and protests alike—from ever being a public figure.
In the years since, many have come to Janover's defense.
stay strong claira. you don’t want to work for a company which don’t appreciates you. everything will turn good for you! bad things happen to open the right doors. ❤️
— Filip フィリップ (@FStropek) July 7, 2020
I muted several of the 'oh no cancel culture' usual suspects last week, after watching them participate in cancelling Claira Janover. Turns out that screening for basic intellectual consistency also reduces pointless drama in my twitter feed.
— Regina Rini (@rinireg) July 8, 2020
This is ridiculous. Claira Janover clearly should not lose her job for what is clearly a metaphor, not a real threat of violence. She was making an argument. Don't like it? Argue back. Don't call for her to lose her job. Sheesh. https://t.co/NDuVQazs8Z
— Nicholas A. Christakis (@NAChristakis) April 29, 2021
I”m cool with people saying pretty much anything. I want her to keep her job. And I want lots of other people I disagree with to keep their jobs. Unless that idea makes her not good at her job.
— Mike Randazzo (@Mike_Randazzo1) May 21, 2021
These days, Janover leads a much quieter existence and has given up content creation.
She ended up spending time with her extended family in Wyoming and finished her Harvard degree, applying for and going on travel fellowships last year.
During 2020, she worked on Democratic President Joe Biden's campaign as well as for the youth-led nonprofit Gen Z for Change, continuing her commitment to progressive advocacy.
