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The BBC removed an article that suggested the trend of leaving fingernails unpainted could perpetuate “White supremacist” beauty standards after it drew backlash on Saturday.
The original article, titled, “How the bare nails trend became a class issue,” explored the beauty trend of women preferring clear and polished “naked” nails over the more stylish nail designs over the past few years. The BBC reported that while some consider this trend part of the ever-shifting standards in fashion, critics suggested the image said “something about class” and could potentially stigmatize Black, Latino and Asian communities that popularized heavily designed nails.
“That trend really promotes blankness and this kind of sameness and erasure of culture and identity that is so important to [B]lack and [B]rown communities,” beauty journalist Kristina Rodulfo told the BBC.
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“They are often called elegant or tasteful, and these are often usually euphemisms that perpetuate [W]hite supremacist standards of beauty,” she added.
The article quickly drew widespread criticism for linking nail design to racism or class warfare.
“Such a stupid, pointless article. And to think the salary of whoever wrote it is paid by a levy on anyone in this country who watches live TV. Indefensible,” Sex Matters director of advocacy Helen Joyce wrote on X.
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“Did one of your Hamas reporters write this one, too?” radio host Dana Loesch remarked.
American Conservation Coalition CEO Danielle Franz joked, “Bad news for the ladies who thought they were saving $80 on a manicure but were actually dogwhistling.”
The Sun editor-at-large Harry Cole wrote, “This is mental. Not painting your nails is now White supremacy coded, apparently. Are they hoofing nail polish remover over there?”
In an archived update to the article, the story was removed and replaced with the statement, “This article has been removed pending editorial review.”
As of Tuesday, however, that statement had also been removed, and the original BBC URL led to a 404 error page.
Fox News Digital reached out to the BBC for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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This move by the BBC comes one month after President Donald Trump won permission to file an amended legal complaint against the BBC for what the president claimed was “maliciously and deceptively” edited footage of his Jan. 6 speech in a 2024 “Panorama” documentary.
“Today’s strong and thoughtful ruling is a major win for President Trump’s powerhouse lawsuit against the formerly respected and now disgraced BBC, which defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election. President Trump is holding the leftist BBC, along with all of its comrades in the mainstream media, accountable for their peddling of Fake News through deception and maliciously defamatory conduct,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told Fox News Digital.
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The controversy preceded the November 2025 resignations of BBC News CEO Deborah Turness and Director-General Tim Davie.
Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.