As famous as she is, Acacia Kersey has been getting on scandals after scandals and more controversy! From being the Tumblr girl to one of the famous Instagram moms and a YouTuber, Acacia has grown a lot as an influencer but has equally received backlashes on multiple things. Whether it is her bad parenting, her pets, or comments she has made online, Acacia has frequently been called out for her actions and manages to get herself into a new problem each time. And this time it's about the new preset packages she released and claimed to have created herself.
Did Acacia Kersey Really Steal Ash Levi's Lightroom Presets or Was Levi Mistaken?
As much as Acacia would want her followers to believe that she is innocent, she really did steal Ashley Feasel, aka Ash Levi’s Lightroom presets, and there are proofs. Ash Levi is also an influencer and content creator, famous for her stunning pictures and posts on Instagram. She has a keen interest in photography and editing. Thus, she makes presets and sells them on CherryPhotoClub. The artistic influencer is comparatively less popular than Acacia Kersey and has around 241,000 followers on Instagram.
Kersey has released multiple presets in 2020 as well which has seemed to have no problem. 2020 presets are still on the influencer's highlights, and she might still be selling them. It all started in July of 2021 when Acacia decided to drop another preset which she claimed are made by her.
Ash Levi initially thought Kersey had either bought her preset or edited the photo to look like it was used.
Photo Source: Acacia Kersey, Instagram
Acacia and Ash Levi followed each other on Instagram and used to comment on each other's posts. Ash noticed her preset on one of Acacia's posts. The green bold eyeshadow look resembled the style Ash has on her Instagram posts and the effect on the picture looked familiar as well. Ash commented, "love this vibe ??✨".
The mom-of-three then excitedly replied, "Coming from the queen of colorful eyeshadows? I am honored! ?". At the moment, fans as well were quick to call out the similarities between Ash & Acacia's post and how she might have used one of Ash's presets. Ash didn't think much of it as Acacia didn't say anything about using Ash's preset. However, the comment has now been deleted, and the two don't follow each other.
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The very next day on July 11, Acacia took it to her Instagram stories and revealed her new presets. As Ash follows the Tumblr famous influencer on Instagram, she saw the stories about the new presets. Ash then compared the pictures after using the presets with her own and found some similarities. The headstrong influencer recognized her work considering she makes unconventional settings on her presets just so they don't get plagiarized.
It was not just the similarities. Ash also found that Acacia had bought her presets under her own name, further confirming the possibility of Acacia using Ash's presets under her recent posts. As Ash dug deeper, she found similarities in multiple of their presets.
In a YouTube video released in mid-July 2021, Ash Levi explained, "Our presets are near-identical. The reason I know this is because I do something that's a little bit of chaotic energy on my end, but I mess with the curves of the photo to the point where if someone takes I can tell which one it is." She adds, "Acacia clearly didn't know this and didn't even bother to change a thing." She initially found six of her presets taken by Kersey, but there were more.
Ash Levi Confronted Acacia Kersey, and This Is What She Had to Say
As soon as Ash found out that her presets were stolen, she was quick to confront Acacia. She released screenshots of her conversation with the famous Instagram influencer and provided full details explaining the situation in her YouTube video How I found out a large creator stole my work. On the other hand, it appears that Acacia wasn't sorry for what she has done.
Ash began the conversation politely with how she was excited about Acacia buying her preset package and admired the support. She then added on about how Acacia's recently released presets were similar to hers with additional tweaks here and there and how it affected her small business. Acacia then replied saying that she felt sorry about Ash being frustrated and that she buys presets every now and then to support small businesses while also adding that she was inspired by Levi's presets to make her own.
From Ash Levi's Autumn preset pack.
Photo Source: Ash Levi, Instagram
Acacia initially denied using Ash's presets and claimed that she had been working since mid-April 2021 to bring her ideas to life for the presets. Instead of admitting and acknowledging that she repackaged and sold Ash's presets, Acacia gave her hollow worries and offered to take down one preset from her package.
Ash on the other hand took a stand for herself and said it was almost six presets, and the traffic that has been taken from her business could not be undone. She goes on to say that she would have been happy to collaborate or create presets with Acacia instead of all the mess that had been created. Strangely, Acacia asked which six presets she was referring to and was still in denial of stealing Levi's presets. Lack of acknowledgment from Acacia made the situation worse when Ash's video came out.
Kersey denied removing the packages and instead kept her already sold preset packages under the new preset's name, choosing to keep her followers in the dark. To compensate for Ash feeling bad about the situation, Acacia offered her a shoutout and continued to deny that the presets were stolen and that she owes an apology for what she had done.
When asked by Ashley to publicize the entire situation to their followers, Acacia straight up denied it. She continued saying that she was bullied by a group of people online for every job she does, and for once, she wanted to make something that would help her family. Acacia said she had been working for months to make fun-color presets but failed, thus using Ash's presets as a base to complete her packages. She also revealed that her family was going through a financial crisis, thus justifying her actions and why she doesn't want the issue to be addressed publicly.
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It has also been revealed that there were 20 presets, not just six. Ash sympathized with Kersey's situation but wanted the right thing to be done and for Acacia to be held accountable for her actions. Acacia also offered to pay for the inconvenience and traffic missed, but Ash declined the offer insisting on the right thing to be done.
After a long debate on the topic, Acacia agreed to make the issue public. However, Acacia posted a very vague story on the topic and clearly tried to shove the issues under the rug. Ash then asked Acacia to refund all the buyers, but as expected she was hesitant and said that it would not be possible.
After another round of confrontation by Ash, Kersey agreed to send back a certain amount of money to the buyers. But multiple screenshots from buyers have revealed that Acacia hasn't returned and isn't transparent as well as responsible as posted on Twitter.
The issue from Ash's side has been ended as Acacia ghosted and unfollowed her. On the other hand, Acacia's followers were left disappointed while she has been receiving hate for her actions.
Acacia Kersey is Quitting the Internet As an "Influencer"
Acacia Kersey has been an influencer on Tumblr, Instagram, and YouTube for quite a while now, especially as a controversial figure. She has been called out for multiple reasons like being mean to her daughter Rosie and treating her differently than her other children, abandoning the pets after she's done with them and getting new ones, being racist, sexist, and whatnot.
The 23-year-old influencer announced on her Instagram that she'll be leaving it for good now. On September 28, Kersey posted a picture of her and her family and revealed what made her quit. She writes, "There are a plethora of reasons that have led me to this decision. This role has done an immense amount of damage to me, my relationships, my financial stability, and my view of the world. Fear has been keeping me here for longer than I can even admit. Fear of what would happen if I stopped bringing in money, fear of what I could even offer the world, fear of who I am without this because it’s all I’ve ever known."
"I am leaving my role as an ‘influencer’ indefinitely."
Photo Source: Acacia Kersey, Instagram
After her recent scandal of stealing Ash Levi's presets, the incident sparked more hate and controversy. Thus, the last straw was drawn on Acacia's part. The poignant revelation that her online career has brought her nothing but harm and yet she doesn't know what to do without it has earned the sympathy of her fans. The audience is still asking for her to own up to her mistakes and correct them.
"This decision was one of the hardest I’ve ever had to make while simultaneously being the easiest & most freeing things I’ve ever done since it meant a better life of for myself & my family." She expects her life to be easier after leaving the platform. She has also stated that she might be back sometime later but she won't be relying on social media for her family's survival anymore.
Kersey vowed to be a stay-at-home mom after the incident which is likely the case as she has only ever posted only once on Instagram in September 2021, announcing a "private + positive place for my own updates & fun content" whose link doesn't seem to exist. She has completely disappeared from social media since then. Ash Levi is thriving still though.
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