Influencer Amanda Ensing is suing Sephora for defamation after the company said she made light of the Capitol riot

• YouTuber Amanda Ensing is suing Sephora and its chief marketing officer Deborah Yeh for defamation.
• Sephora said in February that she made light of "violence and tragic loss of life" at the Capitol.
• Ensing is now seeking monetary damages to be determined by a trial, according to a complaint viewed by Insider.

Conservative beauty influencer Amanda Ensing is suing Sephora and its chief marketing officer Deborah Yeh for defamation.

The complaint, filed by Ensing's attorneys on Thursday and viewed by Insider, comes months after Sephora stopped working with Ensing following criticism she faced for controversial comments she made on Twitter regarding the Capitol insurrection.

In the complaint, Ensing's attorneys argue that Sephora "made false and defamatory statements" about Ensing online, and therefore exposed her to "public hatred, ridicule, and contempt." It also says Yeh made "false and defamatory statements" in an email to all Sephora employees about the situation. Now, Ensing is seeking monetary damages, according to the complaint.

"See you in Court, @sephora," Ensing wrote in an Instagram post with a photo that shows the first page of the complaint on Friday. This is for every conservative who's been discriminated against for their views. Video coming soon... #boycottsephora."

Amanda Ensing first criticized Sephora in February after it pulled a sponsorship of one of her now-deleted YouTube videos

On January 29, Ensing uploaded a YouTube video promoting skin-care items that was sponsored by Sephora through influencer-based company rewardStyle. People quickly took issue with the sponsorship, and some beauty fans wrote #BoycottSephora on social media and pressed Sephora to cut ties with the influencer.

At the time, the influencer was facing criticism from beauty fans and fellow influencers alike. YouTubers called out Ensing's support of Donald Trump, as Teen Vogue reported, and people on Twitter accused Ensing of "blackfishing." Jackie Aina also said in a tweet that Ensing made racist remarks.

Ensing also faced backlash when, as Glossy reported, she seemingly supported the Capitol insurrection - which led to at least five deaths and multiple injuries - on social media. Ensing said in one tweet at the time: "There's not enough popcorn in the world for what's about to happen."

In another, she wrote: "The left: I hate it here. America is embarrassing. Only we can riot & loot. Defund the police. Just do what the government tells you & don't ask questions. The right: Let's fight for freedom. We love the USA. Defend the Constitution. We support our Military & Law enforcement."

Ensing said on Twitter at the time that her tweets - which no longer appear on Twitter as Ensing's account has been suspended - weren't about the insurrection, but about "corruption about to be revealed in our government."

Still, the controversies led some beauty fans to ask Sephora about its partnership with Ensing. Sephora replied to some of the commenters at the time, saying: "Thank you for reaching out and bringing this to our attention. We were made aware that Amanda Ensing, an influencer contracted through one of our external vendors' campaigns, recently shared content on social media that is not aligned with Sephora's values around inclusivity."

"As soon as we were informed, we made the decision to cease all programming with Amanda and will not be engaging her for future partnerships," the statement continued.

At the time, the company told Insider that it had learned of "concerning behavior" on her social-media platforms. Sephora also said it would "cease all programming with her indefinitely" because the company felt Ensing "made light of the violence and tragic loss of life at our nation's Capitol" at the start of the year.

Ensing, however, argued in an Instagram video at the time that she's "never condoned violence," and said she felt Sephora pulled the sponsorship because of differing political views.

Ensing is suing Sephora for defamation, interference with contractual relations, and more

The complaint argues that the YouTuber was defamed by Sephora sharing statements regarding Ensing's conduct "across its social media platforms including the company's largest social media platform, Instagram, spreading the defamation across its over its [sic] 20.7 million followers."

It also argues that she "suffered a backlash of severe, sustained, and aggressive abuse online that made news on several internet media sites, further spreading the false and defamatory statements," which it says came as a result of Sephora's statement. The complaint listed Insider as one of these media sites. Ensing and her lawyers did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on this story; Ensing also did not respond to Insider's request for comment for a previous story in February.

Ensing is specifically accusing Sephora of committing false light invasion of privacy, interference with economic advantage, and conspiracy for imputing hate speech that's "contrary to the company's inclusion and diversity policies," according to the complaint.

The complaint argues that it's "categorically untrue" that Ensing "supported violent or racist ideology." It also says Yeh further damaged Ensing's reputation by sending an email about the situation to all Sephora employees. Representatives for Yeh did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

In a statement sent to Insider, a representative for Sephora said: "All of Ms. Ensing's claims are completely without merit. Sephora is confident it will prevail in the lawsuit, and we stand by our decision to dissociate from Ms. Ensing."

"Any claim that this decision was made on the basis of political or religious beliefs is inaccurate," the statement continued. "Sephora has made a commitment to build a beauty community of diversity, inclusion and equity. We take these values very seriously and will always strive to have them guide our decisions."

Ensing is now seeking an injunction that prohibits anyone from publishing the "defamatory statements" that the complaint says Sephora made. Ensing is also seeking "an award of compensatory, special, punitive, and/or treble damages in appropriate amounts to be established at trial," and "further relief as the Court may deem just and proper," the complaint adds.

While it's unclear how much Ensing is hoping to be awarded, the complaint says that she is seeking a sum in excess of $75,000.