Sometimes karma arrives not with thunder, but with a perfectly timed DM.
One Asian Redditor shared how she finally spoke up against her high school bully, years after silently enduring racist taunts about her eyes. When that same bully posted a trendy “fox eye” Instagram pose, the OP snapped. Her private clapback left the bully deleting her post within hours.
Was she wrong for dredging up old wounds? Or was it long-overdue justice, served chic?
An Asian woman’s DM to her high school bully, who posted a “fox eye” Instagram photo mimicking racist gestures
In this story, a young Asian woman confronted a former high school bully who once mocked her ethnicity with slurs, eye-pulling gestures, and dog-eating “jokes.” Years later, that same bully embraced the “fox-eye trend” on Instagram, a pose identical to the one she weaponized for cruelty.
The victim, frustrated by the hypocrisy, privately messaged her: “you don’t look like Bella Hadid, you look like the racist you are… but chic!” The bully deleted the post. Now the sender wonders: did she overreact?
On one side, her frustration was entirely understandable. Racism that was once used to humiliate her is now repackaged as “chic” when done by the very same person.
On the other, the moral question is whether sending the DM was worth the emotional energy, whether calling out hypocrisy in private changed anything beyond a deleted post. The satirical sting lies in how bigotry can suddenly rebrand itself as fashion depending on who’s doing it.
The “fox-eye” phenomenon underscores how features mocked in minorities can be celebrated when adopted by mainstream influencers. This is a textbook case of cultural double standards.
According to a 2021 Journal of Social Issues article, racialized groups often experience “aesthetic exploitation”, where traits that draw prejudice in minorities are praised when displayed by dominant groups. This explains why the DM wasn’t just personal, it tapped into a systemic frustration.
As Dr. Nancy Wang Yuen, sociologist and author of Reel Inequality, has stated: “Racialized features are mocked until they’re adopted by white celebrities, and then they become aspirational.” The bully’s behavior perfectly illustrates this dynamic: what once was an insult is now her attempt at “influence.”
The private message may not have changed the bully’s worldview, but it at least disrupted her attempt to profit from old mockery. Going forward, the healthiest move is focusing on one’s own peace rather than giving bullies space in adulthood.
Here’s how people reacted to the post:
These users voted NTA, praising her for calling out racism
This duo backed OP, slamming B’s racism and denial
This user shared their own experiences with racism and suggesting exaggerated cultural pride to disarm bullies
These commenters questioned her guilt given the private callout and shocked at the “fox eye” trend’s prevalence
At the heart of this saga is a poetic reversal: the bully who once mocked Asian features now desperately mimics them for clout only to be reminded of her past cruelty by the very person she tormented.
OP’s DM may not erase years of pain, but it reclaimed a little power. And if a single line can make someone rethink their casual racism? That’s more than chic—that’s justice.
So, was OP wrong to send that DM, or was this exactly the kind of comeback every bullied teen secretly dreams of?
