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Livestreaming star Rachell "Valkyrae" is one of YouTube Gaming's most prominent personalities. Since signing an exclusive deal with the Google-owned platform in 2020, she has amassed over 3.8 million subscribers on it.
In addition to being a streamer, Valkyrae boasts a diverse business portfolio as well. She co-owns 100 Thieves, one of the biggest esports organizations, and recently became the face of Gymshark.
Unfortunately, not all of her business ventures were a success. After announcing the controversial RFLCT skincare line in 2021, things changed for the former Twitch streamer. She received massive backlash from the community after claiming that the product would protect gamers' skin from harmful blue light emitted by electronic devices.
In this article, we'll look at the origins of the skincare product, what it claimed to solve, some fan reactions, and the YouTuber's subsequent response to the controversy.
A deep dive into Valkyrae's RFLCT controversy
The inception: Valkyrae announces co-founding RFLCT, a skincare line designed to help streamers, content creators, and gamers
It all began on October 20, 2021, when the Los Angeles-based content creator took to Twitter to announce that she had co-founded RFLCT. She claimed that the product helped people protect their skin from "blue light pollution."
In a now deleted tweet, Valkyrae stated:
"After two years, it's here! I am a co-founder of @RFLCT_skin. It's a skincare collection designed to protect skin from blue light pollution. I wanted to create something that would help not just myself, but everybody with a life in front of screens!"
Alongside the Twitter announcement, RFLCT's official YouTube channel, RFLCT_skin also shared a two-and-a-half-minute-long promotional video. It featured Rachell showcasing the flagship products while using gaming terminologies:
"The Aura Reset Gel Cleanser is the best! It completely resets my skin to clean and clear. I won't go near the screen without it! Then I power up my skin's defense stats with the Screen Shield Defense face moisturizer. It's not greasy, and it really works to hydrate and brightens my skin. I use it with my cleanser every day for a little extra protection."
The response: Valkyrae receives backlash from the community following her announcement
The announcement by the YouTube Gaming sensation went viral on the internet, with numerous reaction threads appearing on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit as well as on Twitter.
Several community members criticized the product, with many requesting that Valkyrae provide scientific evidence to back up the skincare line's claims. Here's what Reddit users had to say in a now-archived post:
The address: Valkyrae talks about the RFCLT controversy and shares her side of the story
After receiving widespread criticism, Rachell addressed the streaming community during a broadcast on October 24, 2021. She admitted that she had "never been" to the development lab and that she had "just seen" the research:
"I am not a chemist. I've never been to the lab in person. I've just seen the research and all that. This is where; that's why I've been really excited for the past two years."
She hit back at those who claimed to have conducted research on the product with a "one-second Google search":
"I saw a lot of comments of people saying, 'It only takes one second on Google to research this.' We didn't do one-second of researching. We ran our own studies. We did our own research. We did it. Not me, I didn't do it. They did it. But I saw it."
Valkyrae recalled some critical information being absent from RFLCT's website:
"When RFLCT dropped, it was critical and crucial for there to be information and there was nothing but a WebMD link. I was confused. Obviously. So, I had meetings with them after that, the past few days. I didn't want to speak, or like, stream because, like, I needed to see how the website was going to be updated and that's when I learned that their studies can't be publicized."
As the livestream continued (timestamp: 25:23), the 30-year-old shared insights on how the controversy impacted her mental health, saying:
"I've been so mentally fried the past few days. It's been an experience. I think the thing that gets to me the most is seeing like, who my real friends are. I think that was the thing that's been startling the most, is like, the people that I play with all the time, the people that actually worried about my well-being. Because, yeah, I'm not going to lie. I've had some terrible thoughts. Like, actually like... like, really terrible thoughts."
The closure: RFLCT announces the termination of the brand and Valkyrae takes a "clean break"
RFLCT issued a public statement on October 30, 2021, announcing that the skincare line was no longer available. While revealing the termination of the brand, RFLCT mentioned:
"While we believe in the formulations created, after further reflection, we have decided to move forward on new paths, effectively terminating the RFLCT band."
Four days later, Valkyrae returned to her YouTube Gaming channel, revealing that she and the skincare brand had "officially separated:"
"RFLCT is no longer. We officially separated, without a lawsuit! And... they pulled all the products out of 400 stores. Umm... yeah! So, that happened. It was a clean break. Took a long time."
A year later, on November 3, 2022, Valkyrae revealed that she and her team were working on a "very, very long project." She joked that her upcoming venture would not be a "RFLCT situation."
