Just a week ago, Olivia Jade Giannulli seemed to be the envy of every teenage girl. With a massive wardrobe, perfectly styled hair, multiple company sponsorships, including one with Sephora, and not to mention her acceptance into top college USC, Olivia Jade was the definition of an internet teen with the picture perfect lifestyle.

Olivia is the daughter of “Fuller House” star Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, the founder of the multi-billion dollar fashion company Mossimo. Tuesday’s federal investigation revealed that both Loughlin and Giannulli were one of more than 50 people indicted in being part of the nationwide college admissions scheme, involving colleges and universities such as Yale, Georgetown, USC, Stanford, and UCLA. Olivia Jade’s mega-successful parents allegedly paid $500,000 to ensure that both Olivia and her sister were admitted into the University of Southern California (USC). With this money, both girls were able to become recruits for the university’s rowing team, despite the fact that neither of them actually participated in crew.

With her high-standing social media presence and connections to big celebrities, Olivia Jade has been one of the figures at the center of this scandal. At just 19 years old, Jade maintains her popular lifestyle Youtube channel with 1.9 million subscribers and her instagram page, all while being a freshman at USC. On her shiny Youtube channel, she appeals to her young audience by vlogging beauty tutorials and shopping hauls, answering questions about her life, and doing plenty of sponsorship deals.

Jade has also been fairly public about her feelings about college. In one of her videos she appeared to be pretty disinterested in the actual school aspect of being at college, saying without much thought, “...I do want the experience of, like, game days, partying…. I don’t really care about school, as you guys know.” In the past, she has posted several tweets about how she hates education and sitting through school.

Although content like this may have been deemed “relatable” by some, many others were angered by her attitude about being at a prestigious school like USC, and it only seems to have gotten worse after the scandal allegations have come to light. Amongst thousands of hate comments, a user said “...You could have been grateful for the spot you stole from another deserving student...but instead you posted constantly about...hating education....” Sungjoon Chang, a current sophomore, has a similar opinion. “I think she is being pretty ignorant, seeing as how she got in through cheating.” He said. “There are kids out there who could have gotten in legitimately...The least she could do is try her best at USC.”

The scandal allegations comes with even bigger repercussions: recent public outrage has caused Olivia to lose her heavily publicized Sephora brand deal. Many of her devoted fans have turned on her, disliking videos and leaving hateful comments. Seeing as how she is a prominent figure in this investigation, it is very likely that she will lose her admission to USC.

However, there is another side to this situation. Despite how upsetting this college scandal is, people seem to be forgetting that Olivia is only nineteen years old. Though it is unlikely, there still is the possibility that she may have been unaware of what her parents were secretly up to. Part of the reason why the spotlight is mainly on Olivia may be because people on the internet like an easy target and being a wealthy, privileged L.A. teen, Olivia Jade is the perfect online persona for people to call out. Elsa Li, a junior feels that what Jade’s parents did is definitely wrong on all levels, but “(Olivia) is still a teenager and in a way people might be placing a disproportionate amount of blame on her. The main people at fault are definitely her parents....”

Regardless of her involvement in this scandal, Olivia Jade’s once shiny internet reputation has been flushed down a sea of social media hate. It appears that the very platform she built herself on has made a shocking turn on her.

<Isabel Hahn/ University High 9th Grade>