UPDATE: The EMBR GEM brand had no business relationship with Martynovskaya, who was involved in a scandal
The Ukrainian ethnic clothing brand EMBR GEM has ended its partnership with Olga Martynovska, a judge on the cooking show “MasterChef,” following the controversy surrounding her comments on the treatment of animals.
This was announced by the brand’s founder and CEO, Natalia Kyrychenko.
According to her, the company does not condone cruelty to animals, and love, respect, and a responsible attitude toward all living things are the brand’s core values.
Kirichenko noted that at the time the joint project was launched, she was not aware of the circumstances that became the subject of public debate following Martynovska’s interview.
Following the scandal, the brand decided to terminate its partnership with the TV host and remove all materials related to the collaboration.
“The value of life, humanity, and compassion will always be more important than any partnerships or commercial projects,” emphasized the founder of EMBR GEM.
Later, Olga Martynovska contacted the UA.NEWS editorial office and stated that the information about the brand terminating its partnership with her was untrue, as no such partnership had ever existed.
“I have never been in any commercial, advertising, ambassadorial, or any other partnership with the EMBR GEM brand. Consequently, no partnership existed between us, and therefore it could not have been terminated or ended,” Martynovska noted.
As of now, the EMBR GEM brand has published an official statement confirming that the information about the alleged termination of its partnership with the chef is untrue.
On its Instagram account, the brand wrote:
“In recent days, a situation has arisen surrounding our brand that we believe is important to clarify.
We previously published a statement regarding the termination of our collaboration with a blogger who was involved in a high-profile incident related to possible animal cruelty. In that post, we deliberately did not name the individual, as what mattered to us was not the person but the brand’s stance on the values we uphold.
Unfortunately, due to a coincidence in timing with another public story, our statement was mistakenly linked by certain media outlets to Ms. Olga Martynovskaya.
We would like to officially emphasize: our post had absolutely nothing to do with Ms. Olga Martynovska. Embroidery Gam has never had any commercial collaboration, joint projects, or partnership with her.
We regret that, as a result of a misinterpretation of the information, a situation arose that could have affected the perception of both our brand and Ms. Olga.
Thank you to everyone who reached out to us directly for clarification. We remain open to dialogue and committed to our values.”
Source: the brand’s page.
There has been a stir online surrounding Ukrainian chef and “MasterChef” host Olga Martynovskaya. The controversy stemmed from her interview with journalist Maria Efrosinina, in which she recounted episodes from her childhood. In particular, she mentioned during the conversation that she and other children had, in the past, been cruel to animals, which sparked a wave of discussion and criticism on social media.
The war has caused a sharp increase in the population of wild animals in Ukraine, and they are destroying crops.
