Phoebe Gates is shutting down racist comments about her relationship.
The daughter of billionaire tech giant Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda Gates is experiencing backlash on social media.
The 20-year-old went public with her boyfriend, Robert Ross, in May 2022. The two Stanford students appear throughout each other’s social media, and the comments get ugly. Most of the online trolls fixate on the fact that Ross is Black. They even allude to the fact that he is dating Gates for her money and status.
Gates recently sat down with The Information, and the outlet asked her about going public with her relationship as an influencer. Her response was heavier than simply dealing with her 200,000 Instagram and 64,000 TikTok followers.
“It’s 2023. I’m done being memed for being in an interracial relationship,” she said.
Their first post dates back to October 2022, with the two pictured at a friend’s wedding. The second post is a moment in front of a fireplace during New Year’s Eve.
Further within the interview, Gates says “the misconceptions and conspiracy theories about my family and my relationship with my boyfriend” is the worst part of her social media popularity.
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Gates also reveled she is aware that most of the attention she is getting, whatever negative or positive, is because of her last name.
“I’m pretty realistic that people start following me because of my family name,” she said. “And people probably find it funny to see my dad being a goof and playing.”
She continued, “People have a lot of preconceptions about me, so TikTok has been a chance for me to tell my own story and also use the attention my family name might bring to spotlight issues that are important to me, like women’s health and sustainable fashion.”
The Seattle, Washington native noted she wasn’t even allowed to have a cell phone until she was 14 years old.
Gates welcomes the onlookers, no matter what made them follow her; she just hopes they stick around.
“But once they follow me, they stick around, and I think some of that is because of the issues that I post about, like women’s health. I like to bring audiences along to the events I go to, my life at college, what’s front of mind for me, that kind of stuff.”
