Trans Model Munroe Bergdorf Exposes L'Oréal's Hypocrisy Over Black Lives Matter
As a show of support of the Black Lives Matter movement, L’Oréal Paris released an Instagram post on Monday (June 1), stating “Speaking Out Is Worth It.”
“L’Oréal Paris stands in solidarity with the Black community, and against injustice of any kind,” the beauty brand wrote in the caption. “We are making a commitment to the @naacp to support progress in the fight for justice. #BlackLivesMatter.”
The social media post comes as many people (and brands) around the world rally together to protest against racial injustice following the on-camera murder of George Floyd by white police officers.
Underwhelmed L’Oréal Paris’ sentiment, Munroe Bergdorf took to Instagram to speak out—especially after the beauty brand cut ties with the British model in 2017 for blowing the whistle against racism, following the fatal aftermath of a white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Let us quickly fill you in with the details. Just a week after Munroe became the first transgender representative for the beauty company, the famous brand immediately terminated its partnership with Munroe over comments she made calling out the blatant racism showcased during the rally that ultimately left one person dead and several people severely injured.
“Excuse my language but I am SO angry. F**K YOU @lorealparis,” Munroe wrote in a lengthy post on Instagram. “You dropped me from a campaign in 2017 and threw me to the wolves for speaking out about racism and white supremacy.”
She continued, “With no duty of care, without a second thought. I had to fend for myself being torn apart by the world's press because YOU didn't want to talk about racism. You even tried to get me to incriminate myself with pairing me up with your shady lawyers, when I had done NOTHING wrong. THAT is what you get for 'speaking out' when employed by @lorealparis. Racist snakes.”
“You do NOT get to do this. This is NOT okay, not even in the slightest,” she said. “I said just yesterday that it would only be a matter of time before RACIST AF brands saw a window of PR opportunity to jump on the bandwagon.”
Denouncing their “solidarity” and support to the BLM movement, Munroe questioned why they decided not to support her statements three years ago.
“Where was my support when I spoke out? Where was my apology? I'm disgusted and writing this in floods of tears and shaking. This is gaslighting," she wrote.
Summing up the post, Munroe called for action by encouraging her 264K Instagram followers to not “let @lorealparis get away with this.”
With over 66K likes and thousands of comments, many seemed to show their support to her comments.
Keep scrolling to see how Munroe thanked all those who supported her with this Instagram video:
“Just jumping on here to say thank you to everyone who has supported me today,” she captioned the video. “Today has been difficult and brought up a lot of trauma from having to deal with @lorealparis's racism the first time around. I'm so thankful for my communities, what would the world be without black women, trans resilience and the gays... Thank you.”
L'Oréal Paris has yet to release a statement.
