Influencer shares ‘humbling’ moment photographers did not take her picture on red carpet

An influencer has divided viewers after sharing the “humbling” moment that she was ignored by photographers while posing on a red carpet.

Tiff Baira, who goes by the username @tiffbaira on TikTok, recently uploaded a video of the “embarrassing” experience to the platform, where she claimed that the photographers at the event hadn’t taken her photo because they didn’t think she was “hot enough”.

In the clip, Baira, who was wearing a cheetah-print dress, platform boots, and sunglasses, could be seen posing in front of a number of photographers, all of whom appeared not to be taking her photograph. During the 19-second video, which saw the influencer strike multiple poses, and at one point appear frustrated by the lack of response, just one flash from a camera went off.

“When you’re on a red carpet and nobody took a photo because I guess they didn’t think I was hot enough,” Baira wrote in a text caption on the video, before adding: “Will never let a man or a cameraman steal my confidence but this was humbling.”

The video, which has been viewed more than 8.7m times as of 23 June, was met with a range of responses from viewers, with some admitting they’d “cry” if they were in Baira’s shoes, while others claimed influencers deserve to be “humbled”.

“They need to start humbling influencers like this,” one person commented, while another said: “Christ this is awkward.”

“Why did you stand there for so long?” someone else asked.

Others argued with Baira’s suggestion that the photographers ignored her because she wasn’t “hot,” with one person pointing out that the photographers’ job is to take photos of individuals who are “well known”.

“They don’t take pictures of hot people, they take pictures of well known people,” they wrote, while another said: “It’s their job to take pics of celebrities. They can’t do anything with a pic of a random person lol.”

However, in the comments, Baira explained that she was “confused” by the situation because she’d been invited to walk the red carpet.

“It was confusing because I didn’t need to walk it, they literally invited [me],” she said. In response to another comment from a viewer who’d asked whether the photographers ignored her because of her appearance or because they didn’t know who she was, she said: “I guess we will never know but they invited me to walk the carpet so I assume they should know.”

As for why she decided to share the “humbling” video, Baira revealed in response to a viewer who questioned her decision to post the clip that she wanted to show “reality” and “how everything isn’t perfect”.

In a follow-up video created in response to a viewer who’d described the video as “awkward,” Baira took the opportunity to share her tips and suggestions for “how to feel confident after being rejected”.

“Here’s how to feel confident after rejection. Yesterday I posted this moment on the red carpet where I literally got body-slammed with rejection and it was like one of the most humbling moments of my life,” she began the video.

However, Baira then explained that she’d posted the original video to “show that we all get embarrassed”.

“No matter what stage you are in life, if you are putting yourself out there, you’re going to get rejected sometimes,” she continued, before noting that she’s “never going to be one of the content creators that show you the ‘perfect day in the life’”.

In the video, Baira then shared a list of tips she’s come up with for “feeling confident after being rejected,” with the influencer revealing that her first suggestion is to “worry less about if they like you and more about if you like yourself”.

“Not everyone is going to like you, but not everyone has taste,” she told her followers. “So you better call yourself Merriam-Webster because you’re the only one that defines your worth.”

For her second tip, Baira assured her followers that rejection is not a bad thing, because it is just “redirecting you to people who get you”.

“Number three, the bigger the embarrassment, the better the brunch,” Baira continued, before joking that whatever happened, it is “nothing that a mimosa can’t cure”.

Baira also reminded viewers that they shouldn’t allow one person’s opinion to define them, and that there’s “always a better opportunity and better man out there”.

The influencer concluded the video with her final tip, which she said is to be proud of “putting yourself out there”.

In the caption of the video, Baira added: “Everyone has an opinion but not everyone has taste.”

In response to the video, many viewers praised Baira for her positive outlook, and for using the opportunity as a way of helping others with their confidence.

“You’re being so positive about this and I love you for it because you looked good and you seem so nice and you deserve better than that,” one person commented, while another said: “That was embarrassing af but love you for having this mindset!!”

“I love the way you decided to handle what happened, I’ve never thought about it this way. Love it, keep it up,”someone else wrote.

Speaking to The Independent about the video, Baira said that she’s “not the type to take myself too seriously or get excited every time I get invited to these events,” and always tries to use her TikTok as a place to share “funny and real moments”.

“This wasn’t my first red carpet, I’ve been in the online and modelling space for a while,” she explained, adding that she found it “humorous” to walk the red carpet without any photographs taken.

According to Baira, she also felt like the experience was the “perfect opportunity” to showcase her dedication to self-confidence, no matter the situation.

“In my head I thought, even if they are not going to take my photos I’m still going to pose and have my moment. This goes with my overall ethos of being unapologetically yourself, and not caring what others think - in this case whether or not the [photographers] wanted to take my photo,” she said.

As for the response to the video, Baira said she’d posted it as a “joke” and to “highlight the raw, real, funny, vulnerable moments of being in your 20s in New York”. However, she said the video ultimately made it to the “wrong” side of TikTok, where it was met by a “misogynistic, fatphoic, male dominanted” audience.

According to the influencer, who said it was clear from the comments that these particular viewers “hated to see a woman feeling confident and taking up space,” those who were critical of the TikTok should “go see a doctor because jealousy is a disease” that she hopes “can be cured”.

However, Baira said the response also “inspired” her, and reminded her “why my work of confidence and body positivity is so important”.

“If I can help one person not let the nasty opinions of insecure people define them, I’m going to do it,” she said.