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Munroe Bergdorf/Instagram

A charity severed ties with trans model following a columnist’s transphobic tweet about the partnership

Munroe Bergdorf was working with the charity to support LGBT+ children.

 

Samira Sadeque

IRL

Posted on Jun 9, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 10:57 am CDT

A British journalist who tweeted at a children’s charity, accusing them of “hir[ing] a porn model” for its ambassador, has reportedly led the organization to remove its work with trans model and activist Munroe Bergdorf.

“Hey @NSPCC can you please explain why a children’s safeguarding charity has hired a porn model as a Childline ambassador? It’s an astonishing decision. Is it worth the cancelled direct debits?” Janice Turner, the journalist in question, tweeted to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

In a Twitter thread on Saturday, Bergdorf shared details of her work with Childline, a segment NSPCC in the U.K. Bergdorf wrote that she worked free of any charge for the campaign and that the charity removed her work from its website without notifying her.

“They decided to sever ties without speaking to me, delete all the content we made together and back-peddle without giving any reason why,” Bergdorf wrote in a tweet. “My role with Childline was not paid, I accepted their request to become their first LGBT+ campaigner because I care about the wellbeing of all LGBT+ kids, but especially trans kids who are consistently targeted by British media outlets.”

A spokesperson for Bergdorf told the Daily Dot that Bergdorf only found out about the removal of her work through her publicist. The spokesperson also confirmed that Bergdorf has been working 100% unpaid with NSPCC since June 4.

In an email statement to the Daily Dot, NSPCC acknowledged that Bergdorf has supported “the most recent phase of Childline’s campaign which aims to support children with LGBTQ+ concerns,” and she has only been “referred to” as a Childline ambassador.

“At no point has she been an ambassador for the charity. She will have no ongoing relationship with Childline or the NSPCC,” the statement read.

The charity is now facing backlash for seemingly bowing to transphobia. Turner, a columnist for British newspaper, the Sunday Times, understandably received backlash for her tweet.

https://twitter.com/secwonk311/status/1137441321348546560

This is not the first time Turner has drawn the public’s ire for being transphobicTurner has a history of making transphobic comments. She is not backing down by continuing to defend herself on Twitter. 

Turner has, in the past, equated having mental disorders to being trans, and has claimed that a fight for gender-neutral changing room at Topshop would “sacrifice the wellbeing of children.”

On Saturday, Turner updated her pinned tweet with numerous links to her articles arguing against the porn industry–or institutions such as Playboy magazine.

As Bergdorf, and others, noted on Twitter, it’s not only Turner’s transphobia that’s unsettling but also the latent bashing of the porn industry in her tweet that’s problematic.

Janice Turner did not respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comments.

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*First Published: Jun 9, 2019, 5:00 pm CDT