Australian influencer dropped by brands after admitting to killing cats as a child

Australian influencer and model Emma Claiir has been dropped by several of her sponsors after admitting to killing two cats as a child in a podcast episode.

28-year-old Emma Claiir is an Australian influencer who boasts over 106k followers on Instagram, where she shares snapshots of her daily life with fans.

The new mom, who gave birth to son Jett on April 12, is decidedly less popular now after admitting to some shocking acts of animal cruelty on a podcast episode.

On top of her career as a lifestyle influencer, she’s also got her own podcast, titled Simply Chaotic… the latest episode of which has now landed her in hot water with sponsors.

During a recent episode of her podcast, Claiir admitted to killing her pet cat when she was nine years old by “swinging” the animal around.

“I killed my cat,” she revealed to friend and co-host Kristy Jean. “I didn’t mean to. I was young. I was a child. I was swinging my cat around. Like, I was thinking it was just a stuffed toy, and I accidentally let go of it.”

Claiir went on to laugh while relaying the story before claiming that the feline had died of “fright.”

“I just want to say, I’m giggling about it now, but this happened years and years and years [ago],” she explained. “And, like, I was a f*cking little child.”

That’s not all; Claiir went on to claim that she’d also killed one of her friend’s cats, shocking viewers… and, apparently, also her sponsors.

Emma Claiir dropped by brands after admitting to killing cats as a child

As of April 19, Claiir has been dropped by at least three brands as a result of her story. MCoBeauty, Princess Polly, and Lust Minerals have since ceased working with the influencer, publishing statements to their Instagram stories distancing themselves from the new mom.

“We were dismayed by this story, and will no longer be working with Emma in future,” MCoBeauty said. “Here at MCoBeauty, we take instances like this extremely seriously and do not condone animal cruelty of any kind.”

Instagram: mcobeauty

Claiir has since reacted to the backlash against her podcast, publishing two separate statements to Instagram addressing the issue. In her first statement, Claiir appeared to hit back at the outrage, calling her story a “bit of light humor.”

“It happened 21 years ago,” she wrote. “I was a small child… Accidents happen and you all need to chill.”

Instagram: emmaclaiir

However, she walked back that sentiment in another story published shortly thereafter.

“I am well aware that the story was not light humor and in fact very serious,” she wrote. “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.”

Instagram: emmaclaiir

Claiir isn’t the first influencer to have faced backlash for cruelty towards cats, either; earlier this month, internet sensation Hasbulla also came under fire after allegedly abusing his pet cat in a viral video.