‘VANDER’ PUNT
Reality star loses ads in alleged #metoo slap
REALITY STAR Stassi Schroeder is being blasted for allegedly mocking the #metoo campaign in a now-deleted podcast.
Schroeder, who stars in the Bravo series “Vanderpump Rules,” reportedly mocked women who have come forward with stories of sexual harassment and assault in an episode titled “Are we on a male witch hunt?” — prompting severe social media backlash, People reported.
It is unclear what exactly she said that prompted thousands of angry tweets.
But some listeners claimed that Schroeder had said something along the lines of it being “the easiest thing in the world” to not go to someone’s hotel room and “suck their d---.”
Sponsors, such as Rent the Runway, were quickly alerted to the criticism on social media and decided to back out of advertising on Schroeder’s podcast, “Straight Up with Stassi.”
“We’re shocked by @stassi’s comments re the #metoo campaign. It goes against everything RTR stands for as a company and has publicly advocated,” Rent the Runway tweeted on Friday.
“Our 1st ads were slated to run on Mon but effective immediately we’ve terminated our relationship with her podcast,” Rent the Runway also said. The clothing rental company also individually responded to dozens of Twitter users saying it was “appalled” by the comments — and ended the relationship with Schroeder (photo inset) immediately. Schroeder, 29, took to Twitter to respond to the critics, but later deleted her statement. “Hold up. There is ZERO bashing, & I repeat myself 3726 times how I feel the whole media frenzy has taken away from the victims who were truly assaulted. You may be misinterpreting my point, because we had the best intentions w/ this episode,” she explained.
Hours later she added, “About 5 ppl heard this podcast & everyone else read ONE quote without the backstory or context of a TWO hours episode.”
SimpleContacts and Frambridge later backed out of sponsorships with Schroeder’s podcast and voiced support for the #metoo campaign.
Schroeder shared on Twitter that she was taping a follow-up podcast and included a GIF of Daenerys Targaryen from “Game of Thrones” that read: “I will answer injustice with justice.”