L’Oréal ambassador Cheryl has responded to Munroe Bergdorf for dragging her name into the ongoing race row surrounding the transgender model.
A spokesperson for the 34-year-old Fight For This Love hitmaker revealed she is ‘disappointed’ to be involved in the row, which saw Munroe dropped by the cosmetics giant over her statement that ‘all white people are racist’.
Following her dismissal, the enraged model stated she should not be sacked given the fact her co-star was not sacked for her 2003 row with a toilet attendant, which was alleged to be racially aggravated at the time yet the charge was dismissed.
Lashing out: L’Oréal ambassador Cheryl has responded to Munroe Bergdorf for dragging her name into the ongoing race row surrounding the transgender model
Munroe made the headlines last week after she was fired by L’Oreal Paris for a lengthy Facebook rant in which she fumed: ‘Honestly I don’t have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people.’
She became the first trans woman to appear in a L’Oreal Paris UK campaign when she was cast as part of a diversity initiative. However, the cosmetics giant terminated her contract after claiming the model was at odds with their values of ‘diversity’ and ‘tolerance’.
Following the row, she spoke to BBC on Monday where she said ‘she shouldn’t be sacked for calling out racism when Cheryl Cole was convicted of actively punching a black woman in the face’ – in reference to Cheryl’s court case.
Her exact words were: ‘I shouldn’t be sacked for calling out racism when I was in a campaign that was meant to be championing diversity.
Hitting out: Following her dismissal, the enraged model stated she should not be sacked given the fact her co-star on the diversity campaign was sacked for her row with a toilet attendant in 2003, which was deemed racially aggravated at the time
Troubled times: In 2003, Cheryl, then using her name Cheryl Tweedy, was convicted for assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), where she was sentenced to 120 hours unpaid community service (pictured heading to court in October 2003)
‘Especially when I was speaking about the violence of white people, but they’ve got Cheryl Cole on the campaign and she was actively convicted for punching a black women in the face.’
A representative for Cheryl told MailOnline: ‘More than 14 years ago Cheryl was unanimously acquitted of a charge of racially aggravated assault. She is disappointed to find her name involved in Munroe Bergdorf’s media interview.’
In 2003, Cheryl, then using her name Cheryl Tweedy, was convicted for assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), where she was sentenced to 120 hours unpaid community service.
Hard times: A spokesperson for the 34-year-old Fight For This Love hitmaker revealed she is ‘disappointed’ to be involved in the row, which saw Munroe dropped by the cosmetics giant over her statement that ‘all white people are racist’
‘All white people’: Munroe made the headlines last week after she was fired by L’Oreal Paris for a lengthy Facebook rant in which she fumed: ‘Honestly I don’t have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people’
Cheryl attacked Sophie Amogbokpa, a toilet attendant, at Drink nightclub in Guildford, Surrey in January 2003. In October that year, Mrs Cole was found guilty as assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
At the time, Mrs Cole – who had been catapulted to stardom the previous December after her band Girls Aloud emerged from TV show Popstars: The Rivals – was sentenced to 120 hours unpaid community service.
She was also ordered to Miss Amogbokpa £500 compensation and prosecution costs of £3,000. Cheryl – who was 19 at the time – punched Miss Amogbokpa after she tried to stop the singer taking some lollipops.
That was then: She was also ordered to Miss Amogbokpa £500 compensation and prosecution costs of £3,000. Cheryl – who was 19 at the time – punched Miss Amogbokpa after she tried to stop the singer taking some lollipops
Reacting: Her exact words were: ‘I shouldn’t be sacked for calling out racism when I was in a campaign that was meant to be championing diversity’
Following the attack, Cheryl swiftly lashed out at any such racism claims as she said: ‘I am really distraught that people are accusing me of racism, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
‘I have a little one-and-a-half year- old cousin who is Caribbean, so the idea I would say something like that is unthinkable. The one thing in this world that I am not is racist and I never will be.
‘Throughout the Popstars: The Rivals series Javine (Hylton, who is black) was my closest friend. That could never have been the case if I was racist, it is a ridiculous suggestion.’