The Belgian beauty who scored a L’Oreal modeling deal after her World Cup photos went viral earlier this week has been released from her contract.
The decision comes after 17-year-old Axelle Despiegelaere sparked outrage on Facebook with a picture showing her posing with a dead oryx gazelle she had hunted in Africa, The Independent reports.
“Hunting is not a matter of life or death,” she said in the photo’s description. “It’s much more important than that … this was about 1 year ago … ready to hunt americans today haha.”
The post came on the day that Belgium eliminated the United States at the World Cup. After the furor began on Facebook, Despiegelaere responded: “Hi, I didn’t mean to offend anyone … it was a joke. Thanks for understanding.”
L’Oreal officials say that Despiegelaere will no longer be representing the company and that her contract has officially been “completed,” according to The Independent.
A spokesperson for L’Oreal said: “L’Oreal Professionnel Belgium collaborated with her on an ad hoc basis to produce a video for social media use in Belgium. The contract has now been completed.”
Despite admitting that they were aware of the controversial photo, the spokesperson did not specifically say whether it directly led to Despiegelaere’s termination.
But they insisted that the French cosmetics giant “no longer tests on animals, anywhere in the world, and does not delegate this task to others,” The Independent reports.
The Belgian teen was in Brazil two weeks ago watching her team prepare to face off with Russia, when a photo of her showing her team pride went viral.
Making the rounds on social media, people all over the world couldn’t get enough of Despiegelaere.
She filmed a promotional video shortly after receiving her contract from the world’s biggest beauty company, but it has now been removed from Facebook.
Despiegelaere is not the only attractive teenager to recently create a firestorm over her hunting photos on social media.
Kendall Jones, a 19-year-old cheerleader from Texas, has received a staggering amount of criticism over photos showing her gleefully smiling next to downed African animals.
Furious Facebook users have gone as far as creating a “Kill Kendall Jones” fan page, which was later removed by the website.