Munroe Bergdorf has said that she wasn’t surprised by a recent statement from Cheryl Tweedy’s publicist, which came in the wake of the model and activist’s L’Oréal controversy.
Munroe was dropped by the beauty brand after making comments about institutionalised racism and in a subsequent interview, she suggested that Cheryl’s involvement in the diversity-centric campaign should be questioned.
Cheryl’s spokesperson then issued a statement which read: “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.”
While the then Girls Aloud star was acquitted on this charge, she was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and ordered to pay her victim, Sophie Amogbokpa, compensation.
Speaking exclusively to HuffPost UK at the 2017 Diversity In Media Awards, Munroe has now said she was “not really” surprised by the response.
“I haven’t met Cheryl, I don’t know her as a person,” she said. “I haven’t ever really thought much of Cheryl, just because of her track record with these kind of things.
“I think it’s very difficult to be a young person and then see a woman punch someone in the face, and then also become the face of a diversity campaign. That, for me, didn’t really compute.
“But we all make mistakes, we all have a history. I’ve done things I regret as well, but for me, I would also not then be a face of a diversity campaign if I was her.”
Munroe made a series of TV appearances after being dropped by L’Oréal, including one on ‘Good Morning Britain’.
Naturally, Piers Morgan couldn’t help frequently talking over the model and addressing the matter, she laughed: “I think we’ve all met a Piers Morgan in our lives.”
“He wasn’t allowing me to get my point across and when I picked him up on the fact he wasn’t letting me talk, he just told me that it was his show,” she said. “But then that is just indicative of society really.
“We want to talk about diversity, or people say that they want to talk about diversity, but when someone actually is given the opportunity to use their voice, we shoot them down.”