Diary Of A CEO host Steven Bartlett has defended Molly Mae Hague over her controversial comments on poverty and privilege.
Molly Mae found herself at the centre of a social media storm last week after the “tone deaf” remarks she made on Steven’s podcast resurfaced online.
The influencer, who starred in Love Island in 2019 before landing a fashion gig with Pretty Little Thing, had insisted “we all have the same 24 hours in a day as Beyoncé” when asked about her career success back in December.
Steven, 29, is an entrepreneur who recently became the youngest investor to ever appear on BBC One’s , Dragon’s Den.
Speaking over the weekend, the podcast host called out the “double standard that successful women face” in posts shared on Twitter and LinkedIn. Bartlett said: “I’ve had male guests say what she said. No one cared.”
Bartlett claimed the standard we hold the young influencer to is “absolutely outrageous”.
“Molly once expressed that she didn’t like Italian food and it trended No.1 all day on Twitter, she got death threats, it was written about in every newspaper and she had to issue a public apology. She’s 22,” he wrote.
He ended the post by reminding readers of the #BeKind movement and the legacy of Caroline Flack, who took her own life last year.
“Bullying and shaming a 22-year-old online is a far cry from the #BeKind movement that Caroline Flack left us with.”
The posts received a mixed response with one person tweeting: “Please don’t make this into a sexism issue. It’s not. She failed to acknowledge her privilege and completely disregarded class, race & economic barriers that could stop someone achieving things, & spoke down on those people by claiming hard work is enough.”
Yet, users on LinkedIn appeared to support Steven Barlett’s outlook on the matter.
One said: “So important, a man has highlighted these points! Thank you. Women are often considered aggressive just for being as direct as a male colleague. I’m 44 and it still happens. I really felt for Molly when I saw this. You’re right she is still figuring out the world, that can be applied to men and women but when men speak like this it’s not only thing to be forgiven, its not even noted. Thanks again, more of this please!”👏”
Featured Image Credit: @bbcstudios on InstagramTopics: Molly Mae Hague
Isabella Timpany