This will be my final response regarding this situation.
After people kindly helped send me a recording of the tiktok video (since I do not have access to tiktok myself), I discovered that the accusations had escalated far beyond simply claiming I "copied" a hairstyle.
^ When comment sections start encouraging mass reporting against my accounts, this stops feeling like "community accountability" and starts feeling like targeted harassment.
The video included captions like "black women can't have anything", and also claimed that the sim used in my preview images was "not actually black".
(I did not include screenshots of the captions from the video because I genuinely could not bring myself to watch it a second time. I barely managed to get through it once, and the entire thing left me feeling physically sick, overwhelmed, and on the verge of a panic attack.)
The sim used for Tyler Hair was specifically created by me for this release, and I intentionally tried to resemble the person from the original real-life reference photo as much as possible. Here is a direct CAS screenshot of him before rendering. I understand that maybe my sim does not look exactly identical to the real person, but I genuinely did the best I could while creating him, and there was never any malicious intent behind it.
If his skin in the preview appeared lighter in preview images, that is because I render my previews in blender, where lighting/environment settings can significantly affect brightness and skin tones. Additionally, the reference image itself does not depict an extremely dark-skinned person to begin with. The skin overlay I used is literally a skin overlay commonly used on black sims by another cc creator as well.
So at this point, the accusation no longer feels like "you copied my hair". Now it has become assumptions about race, identity, and my intentions as a creator - all based on extremely subjective personal interpretations.
I am Chinese. I made a hairstyle based on a real-life reference after researching locs tutorials and trying my best to approach it respectfully. If people genuinely believe that non-black creators should never create black hairstyles or black sims under any circumstance, then that becomes an entirely separate conversation from plagiarism. Because what is happening now is not evidence-based criticism anymore. It is people attaching increasingly severe moral accusations onto me despite there still being zero proof that I copied anyone's work.
I do not think identity labels should automatically determine who is "allowed" to create certain styles in fictional character creation spaces. Otherwise where does that logic even end? Creators make sims inspired by cultures, fashions, aesthetics, and references from all over the world all the time. What hurt me the most was seeing phrases like "black women can't have anything" attached to a situation where there is still no evidence that I copied anyone's actual work. I am also a woman. Whether someone is a woman or not has absolutely nothing to do with whether plagiarism occurred. Those are two entirely separate discussions, and combining them together only turns a creator disagreement into something much more emotionally charged and hostile.
Regarding the name "Tyler", I chose it because when I first found the pinterest reference months ago, I saw comments referring to the person in the photo by that name. I wanted to verify whether that was truly his name, but I could not find any reliable information confirming it. I later searched it myself and saw that Tyler is also a name used by some black people. The person in the reference also appeared to be based in Canada according to linked profiles, so nothing about the name seemed unusual or inappropriate to me.
And if people still insist that the sim I personally created isn't black despite me intentionally designing him based on the real reference photo, then I apologize. Honestly I do not know what else I am supposed to prove anymore.
I fully respect black people and black culture. I have never posted or said anything racist toward black people. Some of my mutuals are black, and one of my own OCs is black too. That is exactly why this situation has been so upsetting to me, because I never approached this hairstyle with mockery or disrespect. But after experiencing this level of hostility and being publicly framed as racist over a hairstyle I created in good faith, I honestly do not think I can go through this again. If creating black sims or black hairstyles as a non-black creator will automatically lead to this kind of controversy regardless of intent or evidence, then I will avoid doing it in the future. Tyler hair was my first black hairstyle, and it will probably be my last. Not because I believe I did something wrong or because I am "admitting guilt", but simply because I do not want to experience this kind of situation again.
At this point, people can make their own judgments about the situation. I am exhausted.
Thank you to everyone who sent kind asks, messages, screenshots, support, and reassurance during all of this, genuinely.
I will continue creating eventually, but right now I need some time away from this situation because it has seriously damaged my motivation and emotional energy.
