Masterchef judge Melissa Leong has spoken out over Instagram following former Bachelorette Georgia Love’s controversial Instagram post which many slammed as “casual racism”.
WATCH BELOW: Georgia Love Lee Elliott proposal
It comes after Georgia was called out by the Instagram account Aussie Influencer Opinions for a “casually racist” Instagram Story, leading her to apologise to her followers.
The offending video featured a picture of a cat sitting in the window of a dumpling restaurant.
“Shop attendant or lunch?” Georgia captioned the video with a laughing emoji.
The anonymously-run gossip page drew attention to the post, writing, “As well as ‘casual’ racism being totally not okay, did Georgia not take into consideration about how this could make her audience with an Asian background feel? Ugh.”
Georgia soon deleted the story and later took to the same platform to apologise.
“Earlier I posted a video of a cat in a restaurant window. I meant for this to be a joke about an animal being in a restaurant at lunch service time,” she penned.
“I meant absolutely no insinuation about the type of animal nor the type of restaurant, but I do see that my post did not come across like that and was offensive,” she added.
“I sincerely apologise for the oversight and offence I have caused. Thank you to those who called me out. This is what we need to make sure we are all accountable and do better. Again, I apologise from the bottom of my heart for the offence caused.”
However, following the apology, Aussie Influencer Opinions unearthed a now-deleted post from 2013 which showed an animal hospital positioned next to an Asian restaurant named “China Chef”.
Below was a cartoon image of a dog, with the caption: “That’s suspicious…”
The gossip page wrote in the caption, “She totally knew what she was doing. Not letting this one go. EDIT: she deleted this original post roughly 5 minutes after I shared to my story.”
Following the revelation, Masterchef judge Melissa Leong penned a message to her Instagram Story explaining that she was understandably “bummed” over Georgia’s actions.
“Casual racism from nice people is possibly the most betraying and insidious kind.”
Melissa continued, “Not angry, just completely bummed that this video exists and that it isn’t the first joke of this kind made by her.”
“Georgia, I really hope your remorse is real and that you grow in the right direction, because this stuff hurts more people, more than you think.
“We must be allies for each other for a better world for all.”
Following the second faux-pas, fellow Bachelor franchise alum Abbie Chatfield also posted to her Instagram stories to call out “Asian hate”.
“Stop Asian Hate,” Abbie wrote before sharing multiple posts about how to tackle racism.
While Abbie didn’t call out Georgia by name, fans had no doubt that the message was directed at the reality TV star.
As the fallout over the controversial posts continues, it has been revealed that Channel 7 has now reportedly launched an investigation into Georgia’s social media posts.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Channel 7 “is reviewing the incident”.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
