Two international brands have reportedly cut off their ties with Instagram star Sondo al-Qattan over her controversial comments on Filipino domestic workers.
London-based Chelsea Beautique posted on Twitter that it has decided to remove videos of Al-Qatan on their channels.
Chelsea Beautique’s message reads: “We’ve decided to remove the video sponsored by Sondos on our channels. We believe that decent working conditions should be provided to everyone and such behavior does not represent our brand’s core beliefs.”
Meanwhile, in an e-mail to Gulf News, French perfume brand M. Micallef said that it deeply regrets partnering with the Kuwaiti blogger.
Despite this, the Kuwaiti blogger who sparked controversy over her comment against new law protecting the rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Gulf state said she is not sorry for her remark.
Al-Qattan said her statement was not an “insult to the employees” and that many other employers share the same sentiment as hers.
“All I said was that the employer was entitled to keep the servant’s passport, and that many Kuwaitis and Gulf nationals agree with me,” Al-Qattan told AFP.
“I have the right as a kafil (sponsor) to keep my employee’s passport, and I am responsible for paying a deposit of up to 1,500 dinars (around $4,900),” she added.
Al-Qattan added that her statements “do not concern humanity or human rights because I did not deprive the employee of her salary or beat her”.
Earlier, Al-Qattan, a Kuwaiti beauty blogger and social media star with over 2.3 million followers on Instagram, ranted on social media and questioned the Kuwaiti government’s decision saying that she does not agree with the new regulations.
“The new laws that have been passed are pathetic,” the Internet celebrity said in Arabic.
“For [a maid] to take a day off every week, that’s four days a month. Those are the days that she’ll be out and we don’t know what she’ll be doing on those days, with her passport on her,” she added.
She also said that maids should not keep their passports because they might run away. And if they do, no one will refund the money she paid for the household helper’s services.
“I don’t want a Filipino maid anymore,” she said in the video.
Meanwhile, POEA administrator Bernard Olalia clarified in a radio interview with DwIZ that the bilateral deal between Kuwait and the Philippines “very clearly states” that passports of OFWs should be in their own possession.
Olalia also promised to include al-Qattan in the blacklist.
“Kuwaiti employers who refuse to follow these provisions shall be immediately blacklisted,” Olalia said during the interview.
