L'Oreal Fires Transgender Model For Commenting on Racism

The international Cosmetics gaint L’Oreal has dropped a British transgender model from its diversity partner.

"L'Oreal champions diversity," the beauty brand said on Twitter. "Comments by Munroe Bergdorf are at odds with our values and so we have decided to end our partnership with her".

L’Oréal champions diversity. Comments by Munroe Bergdorf are at odds with our values and so we have decided to end our partnership with her.

— L'Oréal Paris UK (@LOrealParisUK) September 1, 2017

Bergdorf reportedly wrote a controversial post on Facebook, as a reaction to the events in U.S.’ Charlottesville where a woman died after a white supremacist rammed his car into a group of anti-racism protesters.

Pic Credit: Facebook/Munroe Bergdorf

“Honestly I don't have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people," Bergdorf wrote, according to copies posted in British media.

"Once white people begin to admit that their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth... then we can talk," the model reportedly wrote.

“Unknowingly, white people are SOCIALISED to be racist from birth onwards. It is not something genetic. No one is born racist," she wrote on Facebook.

Bergdorf expressed her unhappiness by calling for  a boycott of the company. Further, she points out the irony in this case, as the company hired her for a beauty campaign which stands for diversity and then fired her for talking about white privilege.

Also she emphasized that if L'Oreal wants to offer empowerment to underrepresented women, then they need to acknowledge the reason why these women are underrepresented within the industry, in the first place. This reason is discrimination, she said. 

Here are some reactions towards L’Oreal’s move:

L'Oréal champions profit and is a company that's chosen to silence a PoC who's dared to speak out about racism and her own lived experience https://t.co/pEe8bBNkZZ

— olly ✨ (@alexander_olly) September 1, 2017

L'Oreal drop their first trans model after a week because she spoke up about racism in an interview. What. The. Fuck. https://t.co/N16twl0stu

— Lucy Moon 🌻 (@iamnotlucymoon) September 1, 2017

L'Oreal are trash for this. You cannot exploit a black trans woman for PR brownie points then turn your back when she speaks out on racism https://t.co/19CViHQHLD

— arenike a (@arenikea) September 1, 2017

Bergdorf is a 29-year-old DJ, and trans activist, whose father is Jamaican. She was to be one of the five new faces of the company’s #allworthit campaign. The new campaign aims to introduce five new shades of its True Match face makeup brand.

Pic Credit: bbc.co.uk

Also Read: YouTube CEO’s Open Letter Shows Pain On Anti-Diversity Memo