Who is Munroe Bergdorf? Transgender model axed by L’Oreal over race row and hired as Labour LGBT adviser
Bergdorf, 29, made headlines last year when she was fired from a make-up campaign over Facebook race rants
MUNROE Bergdorf is a transgender model who was given a role as an adviser to the Labour party.
She made headlines when she was sacked from a L'Oreal ad campaign for saying all white people are racist. Here's the lowdown on her.
Who is Munroe Bergdorf?
Munroe grew up in leafy Stanstead Abbotts, Herts with her white English mother and Afro-Jamaican father.
In an interview with , she said she was a "very effeminate boy" as a child.
She studied English at the University of Brighton where she began wearing women's clothes — a period she described as "genderqueer" phase.
She began her career in fashion PR and decided to undergo transition treatment at 24.
Munroe began DJing and modelling as well as campaigning on social media.
Why was she sacked by L'Oreal?
In August 2017 Munroe was cast to help front a L'Oreal make-up campaign.
But uncovered Facebook posts showed her ranting about all white people being racist.
One written in the wake of white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, read: "Honestly I don't have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people".
She added: "Once white people begin to admit that their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth... then we can talk".
L'Oreal fired her and in a statement said the company "supports diversity and tolerance towards all people".
She also said the suffragettes were “white supremacists” who wanted to deny black people the vote, and described gay Tories as “a special kind of d**khead”.
She later tried to play down her rant, saying it was taken out of context.
Munroe said she was referring to "the fact that western society as a whole is a system rooted in white supremacy - designed to benefit, prioritise and protect white people before anyone of any other race".
When was she made a Labour Party adviser?
In February 2018 Munroe announced she had been appointed an adviser to Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary Dawn Butler.
She wrote on Twitter: “Thrilled to announce that I've been asked to be part of an LGBT+ advisory board for the Labour party - to advise shadow Secretary of State for women and equalities, Dawn Butler MP, on issues affecting the LGBT+ community to help form and push through fairer and more effective policy change.”
She was invited to a launch party for in Parliament hosted by Jeremy Corbyn where she was pictured with him.
Conservative deputy chairman James Cleverly slammed the decision - claiming it makes a mockery of Labour’s commitment to treating people equally.
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He said: “Jeremy Corbyn promised a kinder politics - but yet again he has failed to deliver.
“Munroe has said deeply unpalatable things about 'white people', gay Tories and even the right to vote, yet Labour has now appointed her as an equalities adviser.
“Many people in the Labour party will have serious concerns about this appointment.”
A spokesman for Ms Butler said: “Dawn is proud to stand with those challenging discrimination.
"Dawn will consult with the LGBT+ advisory group on a wide-range of LGBT+ issues.”
However in March Bergdorf resigned, saying it was with "great sadness" she had decided to leave her post.