TL;DR
- Jeffree Star is getting slammed for making jokes about ICE and “deportation centers” during a TikTok livestream.
- The remarks sparked backlash from Latino creators and viewers, with Perez Hilton calling it out as not funny.
- Another influencer on the live later apologized for not speaking up in real time and said she’s against ICE.
- Star defended himself as “dark humor,” then basically shrugged: people can joke about anything.
- The controversy is reigniting criticism over Star’s recent right-wing pivot and anti-trans comments.
Jeffree Star is back in the hot seat — and this time it’s not about a palette launch or petty influencer beef. It’s about Jeffree Star ICE jokes that hit way too close to real-life fear, grief, and trauma for a whole lot of people who don’t get to “log off” from immigration enforcement.
During a TikTok livestream with other creators, Star quipped about “red lights in the deportation centers” after a young Latino creator popped into the live — then later cracked another line implying someone was “calling ICE.” The vibe reportedly shifted instantly, with the other guests sounding stunned, and viewers making it clear: joking about detention and deportation isn’t “edgy,” it’s cruel.
And the backlash wasn’t subtle. Social media users — especially Latino creators — dragged Star for turning immigration enforcement into a punchline. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton also spoke up, saying he didn’t find the comments funny and arguing that, regardless of where someone stands politically, deportations and detention centers aren’t a casual comedy bit. The comments landed even worse in the wake of a recent fatal shooting involving an ICE agent, which put a spotlight on the real consequences people are living with right now.
The apology, the doubling down, and the bigger problem
One creator on the livestream, Jessica Dimon, was pressured by her followers to address why she didn’t challenge Star in the moment. She later posted that she “takes full accountability” for not responding as she should have, said she’s against ICE, and apologized to anyone she hurt by staying silent. That accountability mattered — but it also underlined the power dynamics of influencer culture: when someone with Star’s clout drops a “joke,” people around them freeze because they don’t want the smoke.
Star, meanwhile, took the opposite route: defense-first, empathy-never. In comments, he brushed the remarks off as a “dark humor joke,” and in another response essentially shrugged that people can joke about whatever they want.
Here’s the thing: you can joke about anything. That’s not the question. The question is whether you should — and what it says about you when the punchline is vulnerable people, racialized communities, and the carceral machinery of detention.
And for LGBTQ+ folks, this controversy doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Star has already been catching heat for recent rhetoric that many have called anti-trans and anti-nonbinary — including remarks suggesting he’s “not gay” and pushing the idea that the LGBTQ+ acronym should drop the “Q” and the “T.” Put it together and what you get is a pattern: punching down, then calling it “honesty” or “humor,” and acting shocked when people don’t clap.
Why this hits the LGBTQ community hard
Queer communities don’t just overlap with immigrant communities — we are immigrant communities. There are LGBTQ+ undocumented people, LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, and LGBTQ+ mixed-status families. There are queer people who’ve survived detention. There are trans women in particular who face heightened danger in detention settings. When a celebrity influencer turns ICE into a gag, it doesn’t read like comedy — it reads like a reminder that some people’s safety is treated like content.
It also reinforces the ugliest trend online right now: “shock” humor used as a shield for reactionary politics. If the joke requires you to ignore someone else’s humanity to laugh, it’s not wit — it’s a signal.
Star can call it “five seconds” of dark humor all he wants. But the fallout is lasting because the harm is real. If he wants to prove he’s not siding with anyone, there’s an easy way: stop making people’s trauma the punchline, stop courting outrage like it’s a business model, and start acting like the communities he’s profited from for years deserve basic respect.