Copyright MassLive
On Nov. 1, Mariah Carey flips the switch from spooky to festive, cementing her reign as the ‘Queen of Christmas’ with viral ‘It’s Time!’ videos that mark the official start of the holiday season. However, this year, the diva is facing backlash from some fans who say the video, which is an advertisement for Sephora, mocks working people and those participating in strikes and boycotts. The video, which was posted on Instagram, features her hit “All I Want for Christmas” and an elf, played by comedian Billy Eichner, who is accused of stealing Carey’s Sephora cosmetics. “Busted! Bad news, Mariah Carey, the elves are striking this year,” Eichner says, while holding a Sephora bag full of cosmetics. “Elf revenge for putting us through holiday hell. Santa’s helper quit. I’m pawning all this so I can afford elf therapy.” “Your lipstick, I’m taking it,” Eichner continues. “Christmas, it’s canceled. No bells, no cheer, no glam. Bye sweetie.” “You can’t cancel Christmas,” an indignant Carey responds before belting out, “It’s time!”. Some commenters on Instagram and Facebook criticized Carey and Sephora for making fun of working people who are struggling to pay for food and health care. “So disturbingly out of touch 👎🏼👎🏼 time to boycott the folks at Sephora who thought it was funny to make fun of real struggles people are facing nationally right now," one poster wrote. “Tone deaf diva reminds the hungry what the oligarchs will be doing this year,” another person posted. TikTok user @njml5 also thought the video made fun of consumers who were planning to sit out Black Friday and Christmas shopping this year. “The commercial is corny, period. But they are definitely mocking the people, working-class people, who have decided, ‘You know what? I’m not fueling this economy. I’m not spending all this money on Black Friday. I’m not spending all this money on Christmas fueling the economy when the economy is not fueling us,’” she said in a video. But many of the almost 10,000 comments on Instagram and Facebook heaped praise on Carey’s performance. Others blamed the backlash on people overreacting. “People are reading too much into this! It’s supposed to be silly. There’s all sorts of Christmas cartoons and movies with these ideas. Why is everyone taking offense to this ad? We all are struggling, keeping a sense of humor goes a long way,” a poster wrote. Neither Sephora nor Carey has commented on the backlash as of this writing.
