CONTENT WARNING: This article contains descriptions of animal cruelty.
Several major brands have dropped influencer Emma Claiir after she confessed on her podcast that she killed two cats as a child.
The 28-year-old Instagram star shared the admission on the latest episode of her pod, Simply Chaotic, and to say jaws were on the floor is an understatement.
After being asked to share a personal secret, Claiir left her co-host Kristy Jean stunned when she revealed: “I killed my cat.”
“I didn’t mean to… I was young, I was a child,” she explained. “I was swinging my cat around. Like, I was thinking it was just a stuffed toy. And I accidentally let go of it.”
With an awkward laugh, the mum-of-one clarified the feline died “from the fright” rather than an injury from being yeeted across the room.
Claiir added: “I just want to say, I’m giggling about it now, but this happened years and years and years [ago]. And, like, I was a fucking little child.”
However, the bizarre tidbit didn’t end there. The influencer went on to offhandedly reveal she “also killed her best friend’s cat”.
Claiir quickly began copping backlash from fans and before long, beauty brand MCoBeauty had announced they were dropping her as an ambassador.
“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,” the makeup brand wrote on Instagram.
“We were dismayed by this story, and will no longer be working with Emma in future. Here at MCoBeauty, we take instances like this extremely seriously and do not condone animal cruelty of any kind.”
After a follower questioned their collaboration plans, clothing brand Princess Polly also revealed they’ll no longer be affiliated with Claiir.
“We’d like to assure you Princess Polly has a zero tolerance stance on any form of animal abuse,” a spokesperson wrote in an Instagram comment. “We don’t have any plans to collaborate with Emma in the future.”
Following suit, vegan beauty brand Lust Minerals nixed collaborations with Claiir on Wednesday afternoon.
“Lust Minerals does not condone animal cruelty of any kind. We stand by our values – our products are cruelty free and are vegan certified,” a statement on the brand’s Instagram Story read.
“As a company, we take matters like this very seriously and have therefore made the decision to end all activity with Emma Claiir.”
Claiir initially hit out at those criticising her for an incident that happened when she was “nine-years-old”.
“It happened 21 years ago. I was a small child… Accidents happen and you all need to chill,” she wrote on an Instagram Story.
“It’s a bit of light humour in a get to know us episode and if you can’t handle that then Simply Chaotic ain’t for you.”
She also added that she’s since “been the best mother to multiple cats”.
However, controversy mounted once influencer watchdog account Influencer Updates AU (@influencer.updates.au) shared Claiir’s commentary with its 54,000 followers.
“What the? Not sure I would consider a conversation about killing two cats to be ‘a bit of light humour’,” one disgusted user wrote.
A second agreed: “I wish I didn’t listen to that… that’s not humour in the slightest. That’s really traumatising.”
Others defended the social media personality, wondering why so many people were “offended by this”.
“She made a mistake as a young child.”
Just hours after doubling down on her confession, Claiir changed her tune and issued a more refined response to the outcry.
“I am well aware that the story was not light humour and in fact very serious,” she (or perhaps a frantic publicist) penned.
“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.”
Claiir said she had “taken the time to think about [her] actions” and deduced it was “not something [she was] proud of”.
Wrapping up the lengthy Instagram Story, she assured people she had “grown up” since the incident. Or rather, the short few hours between her OG statement.
“Again I deeply apologise for those [affected] by an accident that happened in the past and I hope we can leave it there,” she concluded.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has contacted Emma Claiir for comment.