A popular Australian influencer has had a brand partnership cut short after she confessed to having killed two cats when she was a child.
Emma Claiir, 28, is a popular social media influencer with 106K followers on Instagram. She was the ambassador for the makeup and skincare brand MCoBeauty.
The mom-of-one, who co-hosts the Simply Chaotic podcast, shockingly confessed in a recent episode: "I killed my cat...I was swinging my cat around. Like, I was thinking it was just a stuffed toy. And I accidentally let go of it."
"My sister did not speak to me for months and my mom was f*****g fuming at me, and yeah, I killed it," she continued before adding: "And then if you really want to know more about me, I also killed my best friend’s cat."
Watch the video below:Claiir's admission was quickly met with fierce backlash so she released an initial statement in which she branded her comments "a bit of light humor," as cited by News.com.au.
The publication reports that her message was shared on her Instagram story and read: "To the people offended by my story in today’s [Simply Chaotic] episode that I just shared… it happened 21 years ago. I was a small child… accidents happen and you all need to chill."
"I hope that you are not the same person you were at nine years old and I can confirm that after that accident I have been the mother both to multiple cats including my baby Fred," she continued.
"It’s a bit of light humor in a get-to-know-us episode and if you can’t handle that then [Simply Chaotic] ain’t for you. So byeeeee," she added.
Well, Claiir's "light humor" was brought to the attention of the beauty brand, which confirmed that it had broken its relationship with the influencer in a statement made on its social media.
"It has come to our attention that Emma Claiir recently relayed a story on her podcast discussing an incident of animal cruelty from her childhood," they penned. "We were dismayed by this story, and will no longer be working with Emma in [the] future."
"Here at MCoBeauty, we take instances like this extremely seriously and do not condone animal cruelty of any kind. Thank you to all of those who have taken the time to bring this situation to our attention," they concluded.
After, the model issued a second, more sincere apology for the incident on her social media page. She wrote: "Hello friends, I would like to jump on here and firstly [apologize] for the story mentioned in episode one of Simply Chaotic."
"I am well aware that the story was not light [humor] and in fact very serious. It was not intended to come across the way that it did as it was simply just a story from the past about an accident that was made as a little kid but I can see how it has come across like that," she went on.
"I have taken time to think about my actions and want to confirm that I do have empathy about the situation and it’s not something I am proud of as it really hurt myself and my family 21 years ago."
"I am a loving person to all things living and have since been the most amazing cat mum to multiple cats and dogs. I am now also a loving mum to a little boy and have definitely grown up from that little nine-year-old kid," she added.
"Again I deeply [apologize] for those [affected] by an accident that happened in the past and I hope we can leave it there," Claiir ended her message.
