A former beauty pageant winner has shocked followers and been cut from sponsorship deals after posting bizarre statements about the Black Lives Matter movement on social media.
Amid the protests triggered by the killing of US man George Floyd by police, former Miss Universe Malaysia Samantha Katie James uploaded a series of controversial posts on her Instagram story on June 1.
In her first post, she wrote: "I don't live in America, it has nothing to do with me, but to me, it seems like the 'whites' won."
"Because if you're angry, you respond in rage and anguish. That means it has power over you. They have power over you."
In another post James blamed people of colour for "choosing" their ethnicity.
"To the black people, relax, take it as a challenge, [it] makes you stronger," she wrote.
"You chose to be born as a 'coloured' person in America for a reason. To learn a certain lesson.
"Accept it as it is, till now hunger and poverty still exists. It is what it is. It is inevitable. Best you can do is remain calm, protect heart, don't allow it to crumble. That's your responsibility."
James is of mixed parentage and has a Malaysian-Chinese mother and a Brazilian father.
An online petition has been started calling for James to be stripped of her crown and title. More than 15,000 people have signed at the time of writing.
Vegan and cruelty-free Malaysian makeup company Velvet Vanity announced on Tuesday it has cut ties with James following her comments.
After previously collaborating on sponsored content with the beauty queen, the brand issued a statement on Instagram to denounce her views.
"Since the beginning of our journey, we are dedicated to cater to everyone albeit their skin colour so for us to support her (James') wrongdoings would be contradictory to our brand name," the post read.
"Any posts featuring (James) was made way before this case and we are not affiliated with her anymore.
"As a brand, we support #blacklivesmatter and we would never associate ourselves with racist behaviours in any way."
