An influencer’s stark admission about a childhood mistake has cost her a collaboration with a major skincare brand. Australian Instagram user, Emma Claiir admitted on a podcast she co-hosts, Simply Chaotic, that she had “swung her cat around and let go of it” as a young girl. She said to listeners that she “didn’t mean to” and that she thought it was “like a stuffed toy.”
The influencer said the pet had died “from the fright.” She continued: “Mind you, I just want to say, I am giggling about it now, this happened years and years and years back, I was a little child.
“My sister didn’t speak to me for months, months, and my mum was f***ing fuming at me, and yeah, I killed it.” She then said: “And then, if you really want to know more about me, I also killed my best friend’s cat.”
This confession, made in a light-hearted setting, was swiftly followed by backlash, to which Ms Claiir initially replied by issuing a written message on her Instagram Story, which has since expired.
The text, included alongside a picture of Ms Claiir pulling a funny face, addressed those “offended by my story”, News.com.au wrote.
She added: “It happened 21 years ago. I was a small child… Accidents happen and you all need to chill.”
Speaking to her 107,000 followers, she continued to say she hopes people criticising her are “not the same” people they “were at nine-years-old (I could have been even younger you know)”.
Ms Claiir said she has since been the “best mother” of multiple cats.
She also described recalling the episode during the podcast as a “bit of light humour” which would allow listeners to get to know the hosts.
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This message didn’t seem to satisfy Australia’s brand MCoBeauty, which on Wednesday announced it would no longer work again with the influencer and described the episode from her childhood as “animal cruelty”.
The message, published on a now expired Instagram story shared on the beauty brand’s social media account, read: “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. We were dismayed by this story, and will no longer be working with Emma in future.”
The brand, which has some 183,000 followers on Instagram, added: “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.”
This communication prompted Ms Claiir to issue a more sombre message via her Instagram account, in which she rectified her previous statement recalling the episode from her childhood was a “bit of light humour”.
She wrote: “Hello friends, I would like to jump on here and firstly apologise for the story mentioned in episode one of Simply Chaotic. I am well aware that the story was not light humour 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.
“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. Again I deeply apologise for those affected by an accident that happened in the past and I hope we can leave it there.”
