The bakery that rose to viral fame after calling out a request on behalf of Catherine Tyldesley for 100 free cakes in return for exposure has thanked fans for the ‘incredible support’ it has received.
Rebecca Severs, the founder of the Three Little Birds Bakery, in Keighley, Bradford, shared screenshots of a conversation with the PR firm representing a ‘well-known celebrity’ who was preparing to celebrate their 40th birthday.
"This poor celebrity apparently can't afford to pay people for their products and services," the sarcastic caption read.
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"Spare a thought!
"What happened to women supporting women."
The email asked the bakery to make 100 cupcakes, one 40th birthday cake with a theme of ‘camp as t**s’ and a ‘smaller cake’ to surprise the star’s husband with.
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The PR company said the ‘opportunity’ would get the bakery ‘payment in the form of promotion on their socials’ as well as in a leading magazine.
The celebrity was later named as Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley, who later took to Instagram to speak out about the allegations, claiming she had ‘no idea’ the emails were being sent.
She described the situation as ‘utterly bizarre’, adding: “I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving.”
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Now ‘cake lady’ Rebecca Severs has responded herself, having thanked fans for their support on Instagram.
“I wish I had time to reply to all your amazing messages one by one,” she wrote.
“But I totally don't!
“But please know that knowing how much solidarity is out there for small business is incredible and every message of support means a lot.”
Severs even shared an AI-generated mock-up of what the ‘infamous cake request’ would look like, courtesy of her brother-in-law.
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The ‘camp as t**s’ cake is a bright pink three-tiered number, topped with two giant flamingos and decorated with flowers and feathers – pure camp, indeed.
Posting in the comments on Tyla's Facebook page, one person wrote: "Imagine defending someone extremely wealthy grifting goods for free lol. Some people are really brainwashed nowadays. Good on that bakery."
A second added: "I could have felt bad for her, if she said they weren't acting on her request and she has questioned why they would do it, but to blame the cake maker for standing up for her business and pointing out people are deserved a fair price shows a whole different side of her not the cake maker!"
And third remarked: "Catherine saying that the bakery owner was craving attention is just unnecessary, and given she wasn't even named in any of this, her making a video about it actually screams that SHE'S the one wanting attention."
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NVRLND founder Victoria Earnes told the Daily Mail: "NVRLND contacted Three Little Birds Bakery to offer them the opportunity to collaborate with one of our clients to cater for a party.
"As part of the collaboration, our client would cover all of Three Little Birds Bakery’s expenses and costs in exchange for social media content and local and national exposure for their business. To confirm, NVRLND are also retained on the same expenses-only basis.
"We selected Three Little Birds Bakery to collaborate with a view to support a local business and help them grow.
"Our aim is to connect small local businesses with the opportunity of growth and the possibility of a full diary which is what we have experienced when working on past collaborations. We would never expect any business to be out of pocket and nor would our client.
"Our email communication to Three Little Birds has unfortunately been completely misconstrued."
Tyla has contacted Catherine Tyldesley's reps for comment.
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Three Little Birds Bakery/Instagram/@auntiecath17Topics: Celebrity, Food and Drink, UK News