UK Dj Clara Amfo is a L’Oréal spokeswoman no longer. The former face of the True Match campaign quit her position in solidarity with model Munroe Bergdorf, who L’Oréal fired early last week. Munroe was the first trans model to front a campaign for the beauty brand.
L’Oréal’s True Match project claimed to champion diversity, promising to match 98 per cent of UK skin tones. On September 1st, L’Oréal announced they’d no longer be working with Munroe in a breif Tweet, which read: “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.” Munroe had made comments on social media in response to white supremacist violence in Charlotteville, calling out institutional racism.
“Honestly I don’t have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people,” Munroe wrote on Twitter, in a post which has since been deleted. “Most of ya’ll don’t even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour. Your entire existence is drenched in racism.”
Fellow spokeswoman and UK radio host Clara Amfo also took to social media when she heard of Munroe’s dismissal to set the record straight. She described Munro’s initial post as a “nuanced,” commentary “on institutional racism and white supremacy in relation to Charlottesville and how the foundations of those heinous ideals trickle in to every facet of our society.”
“A newspaper took her post out of context,” the DJ continued, concluding, “if she’s not ‘worth it’ anymore, I guess I’m not either.” Bravo.