Draya Michele catches flack for promoting an air purifier during LA fire

Draya Michele is receiving backlash for promoting an air purifier on Instagram amid the ongoing LA fires.

The 39-year-old mother-of-three, who welcomed a daughter in May, appeared on social media this week to encourage fans to purchase a machine from Sereniby using her discount code.

She wrote to her nine million Instagram followers, 'While the unimaginable is happening with the fires in LA… air quality is so poor, toxic even. I’m using the @sereniby_official air purifier to ensure that my kids and pets are breathing in fresh, double filtered air.'

A brief reel showed Draya unboxing the purifier as natural light poured through her windows, spotlighting her while her cat and eight-year-old son Jru Scandrick were seen in the background. 

Her caption continued, 'The brand is now offering $200 off when you use my link in bio. There’s no price on peace of mind but having it is more valuable than most worldly things. #prayforla #airquality #airpurifier.'

Despite a wave of criticism from social media users, Sereniby denies paying the former Basketball Wives star for the post.

According to Bossip, one person wrote under the post, 'Draya [is] using the L.A. fires to promote an air purifier on her Instagram. She never does anything right. Tone deaf.'

Someone else wrote, 'At the least she could be giving them away. But selling a product at a time like this is sure proof of creamed corn for brains.' 

The negative responses prompted Draya to limit the comments on the post.

But the discourse continued on Elon Musk's social platform X, with one user snapping, 'And where [the f*** are] they supposed to put the air purifier Draya? They have no home.'

Per People, Sereniby said in a statement: '[Draya] and her team contacted us because she genuinely uses the product and believed it could help others dealing with the severe air quality in Los Angeles.

'Together, we explored ways to make our purifier as affordable as possible during this difficult time. We’re a small, family-run startup that only launched a few months ago, and we’re incredibly grateful for her genuine support.'

The message continued, 'Like so many others, we feel powerless against the devastation caused by the L.A. fires, but we want to help in whatever small way we can. We’re donating 10% of our January profits to the American Red Cross, and we recognize there are countless urgent needs in this crisis. 

'If financial assistance affording an air purifier can help lighten someone’s burden, we encourage those in L.A. to reach out to us directly — we’ll continue doing everything we can to support the community during this difficult time.'

Meanwhile, Michele took to her Instagram Stories on Sunday to share resources and fire-related content.

She wrote in one post, 'Thank you to everyone that checked on us. We're ok! Very upset for others, but alive, together, and ok.' 

Draya shared a resource for Altadena women called Altadena Girls Fire Recovery and wrote, 'This is really dope.'

She also reposted a message that read: 'I don't know who in SoCal needs to hear this but you're actively being traumatized right now, you don't need to be online arguing with any damn body about any damn thing.'

The entrepreneur added, 'Whew... This one.'

In addition to Jru she is mom to 23-year-old son Kniko Howard, and an eight-month-old daughter with NBA star Jalen Green whose name has not been revealed.