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Influencer Molly-Mae Hague criticised for ‘tone deaf’ comments on her background and privilege

Influencer Molly-Mae Hague criticised for ‘tone deaf’ comments on her background and privilege

Molly-Mae Hague has come under fire over her “tone deaf” comments on privilege, wealth and people’s background saying that “we all have the same 24 hours in a day” to achieve success.

The 22-year-old reality star who shot to fame in 2019 on the fifth series of Love Island discussed her success as an influencer and creative director for the fashion brand, PrettyLittleThing on the podcast The Diary of A CEO.

“You’re given one life and it’s down to you what you do with it. You can literally go in any direction,” she told host Steven Bartlett.

“When I’ve spoken about that in the past I have been slammed a little bit, with people saying ‘it’s easy for you to say that because you’ve not grown up in poverty, so for you to sit there and say we all have the same 24 hours in a day is not correct.’ But, technically, what I’m saying is correct. We do.”

Hague continued: “I understand we all have different backgrounds and we’re all raised in different ways and we do have different financial situations, but I think if you want something enough you can achieve it. It just depends on what lengths you want to go to get where you want to be in the future.

“And I’ll go to any length,” she added: “I’ve worked my absolute a**e off to get where I am now.”

Hague’s comments have sparked backlash on Twitter after this clip of the podcast aired, which was released on December 13th began to circulate online.

Many noted how Hague failed to acknowledge how her privilege has helped her to get to where she is today and also failed to understand the realities of social inequality.

While others pointed out Hague signed a six-figure deal in August to become the UK and EU’s creative director for PrettyLittleThing, which is owned by Boohoo, was accused of paying workers in a Leicester factory as little as £3.50 per hour.

There were also claims of a lack of Covid safety regulation in place with no social distancing and failure to give staff PPE in the midst of the pandemic, an investigation by The Sunday Times uncovered.

In response, Boohoo said in a statement: “As a board, we are shocked and appalled by the recent allegations that have been made” and added how they are “committed to doing everything in our power to rebuild the reputation of the textile manufacturing industry in Leicester.”

An independent review was launched into the retailer’s UK supply chain.

Many people pointed this factor out when criticising Hague’s comments on being able to achieve by putting the work in.

Fans of the influencer also couldn’t defend her comments either.

In a statement given to indy100, a spokesperson for Hague said:

“Molly did a podcast interview in December about her own rise to success. If you listen to the full conversation and interview Molly was asked about how the nature of her potential grows and how she believes in herself. This part of the interview was discussing time efficiency relating to success.

“Molly refers to a quote which says ‘We all have the same 24 hours in a day as Beyonce’. She was discussing her own experience and how she can resonate with this specific quote. Her opinion on if you want something enough you can work hard to achieve it is how she keeps determined with her own work to achieve more in her own life.

“Molly is not commenting on anyone else’s life or personal situation she can only speak of her own experience. She acknowledges that everyone is raised in different ways and from different backgrounds but her comments here are in reference to timing, hard work and determination in her own life.

“If you listen to this interview you can see the whole conversation was about her own personal circumstances, how she has grown up and this small clip in the conversation was talking about a quote that inspires her.

“Social media users have shared a short snippet from this interview with words such as “if you are homeless buy a house” and “if you are poor be poor” these are absolutely not Molly’s words, these are not Molly’s thoughts and this isn’t at all the meaning or thought behind that conversation.”

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