PARIS, July 11 (UPI) -- French cosmetics company L'Oreal has ended its modeling contract with Belgian World Cup fan Axelle Despiegelaere due to a controversial Facebook post.
The 17-year-old blonde was photographed decked out in the Belgian colors cheering for her team. The photographs went viral, which led to an offer to model for the cosmetics corporation.
The offer was cut short Friday after L'Oreal received several angry comments over a Facebook post of the girl standing over a gazelle she had hunted with a caption reading: "Hunting is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that...this was about 1 year ago...ready to hunt americans today haha."
@Loreal @LOrealParisUSA what do you think of this post by your new model Axelle Despiegelaere? pic.twitter.com/Xn4lZrckLs
— Aly Weisman (@AlyWeisman) July 10, 2014
"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," a L'Oreal spokesman told The Independent.
The spokesman admitted the company knew about the photograph, but would not comment on its relation to Despiegelaere's termination. The company did stress that L'Oreal "no longer tests on animals, anywhere in the world, and does not delegate this task to others."