British perfumer Jo Malone has slammed her namesake former company for its treatment of John Boyega, the Star Wars actor who resigned this week as the brand’s global “ambassador.”
“I am so horrified and disgusted about what has been done to John,” Malone said today on UK’s ITV program Lorraine. “How dare somebody treat him [like that], and he finds out he is replaced on social media?…They never spoke to him. That for me is utterly despicable and is disgusting.”
Watch the clip above.
Boyega announced Monday that he will no longer represent the London cosmetics brand Jo Malone London after the company reshot a video he made for an aftershave marketing campaign and removed the Black actor from the clip for broadcast in China.
While the script for the aftershave commercial – which was originally conceived and directed by the British star – remained largely intact, the China market version had him replaced by another actor, Liu Haoran.
“Their decision to replace my campaign in China by using my concepts and substituting a local brand ambassador for me, without either my consent or prior notice, was wrong,” Boyega tweeted Monday. “The film celebrated my personal story – showcasing my hometown, including my friend and featuring my family.”
“I don’t have time for nonsense,” Boyega wrote. “We press on and strong. Stay blessed people.”
Jo Malone London, the company founded by Malone but sold to Estee Lauder in 1999, apologized to Boyega Monday, calling the matter “a mistake in the local execution of the John Boyega campaign.”
On the Lorraine interview today, Malone herself said, “From a personal level, I feel heartbroken by this and I don’t know where to turn. This has gone global and my name has been associated. It’s been done in my name but also people think it’s me. If I’d have been standing in those shoes I promise you, John, this wouldn’t have happened.”