Molly-Mae Hague has broken her silence to issue an apology to those "hurt and upset" by her "tone-deaf" comments on wealth equality.
The 22-year-old Love Island star sparked a furious backlash last week when she claimed 'we all have the same 24 hours in a day' and put down her fame and fortune to the simple fact that she had "worked my arse off to get where I am now.”
Unimpressed fans branded her comments tone deaf, however, highlighting that people earning minimum wage for 12 hour work days do not have the same opportunities as someone who appeared on one of the biggest realty shows in the UK to then be handed lucrative endorsement deals without the need to make any effort.
Many others fumed over the fact that Molly-Mae claims she works hard when she was appointed Creative Director of Pretty Little Thing which is a company that is owned by Boo Hoo Group – who got busted in 2020 for 'modern day slavery' for paying employees just £3.50 per hour.
Finally addressing the backlash that her comments – which she expressed in a podcast – made, the star issued a grovelling apology on social media on Monday.
She wrote via Instagram Stories: “I wanted to come back online today as normal but I feel like before I do I just wanted to say this…
“When I say or post anything online, it is never with malice or ill intent.
I completely appreciate that things can affect different people in different ways however I just want to stress that I would never intend to hurt or upset anyone by anything that I say or do.”
She went on: “I apologise to the people that have been affected negatively or misunderstood the meaning of what I said in the podcast, the intentions of the podcast were only ever to tell my story and inspire from my own experience.”
She concluded: “Love to you all, always x.”
Molly-Mae's original comments provoked a near deafening backlash when a podcast recording resurfaced last week.
In footage that circulated last week, the reality star was heard saying: “You’re given one life and it’s down to you what you do with it. You can literally go in any direction.
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.”
She went on: “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 then added: “I’ve worked my absolute arse off to get where I am now" – invoking the anger of many fans who considered she hadn't worked a hard day in her life.
Her comments caused fans to mock her, with one applying Molly-Mae's logic to other areas of society, tweeting: "If you’re homeless just buy a house.”
Molly-Mae was defended by some of her Love Island co-stars – with Shaughna Phillips tweeting her support.
The reality star wrote: ""Molly Mae is young, who’s had a lot of success really quickly, and not a lot of 'life'. So I can understand why she holds those views.
"We all say things when we’re younger and look back and think 'well that was stupid' lol. No shade, I wanna live in her bubble."
