Jo Malone ‘disgusted’ by former company editing John Boyega out of Chinese ad

Jo Malone has expressed her deep disgust for her former company’s treatment of John Boyega after he was edited out of a Chinese advert.

Appearing on Lorraine this morning, horrified Jo – who sold the company in 1999 and left in 2006 – promised this wouldn’t have happened on her watch as she details her heartbreak over this situation.

Defending her name on national television, shocked Jo told: “Firstly, I am so horrified and disgusted at what has been done to John.

“That’s why I’m sitting here. If people like me never speak out, things will never change, things will never be different and people will continue to go through these things.”

Star Wars actor John, 28, this week quit as a global ambassador for the perfume brand.

He had made the ad as a video personal to him, set in his home city of London, but it was re-shot for the Chinese market.

While largely following a similar script, John had been replaced by Chinese actor Liu Haoran in the re-shot version.

Appalled by the handling of the situation, Jo admitted she’s “heartbroken” by “what’s been done to John”.

She continued: “From a personal level, I feel heartbroken by this and I feel like I don’t know where to turn.

“This has gone global. My name has been associated and it’s been done in my name, but also people think it’s me. Lorraine, you know me, you’ve known me a long time. There is nothing in this, nothing that resembles me.

“Nothing of my spirit, if I’d been standing there in those shoes, I promise you John this would never have happened.”

The ordeal has tainted Jo’s name, despite not having anything to do with the business since 2006.

Expressing her concern, she said: “I didn’t sell my name. I sold a business and people do that all across the world.

“This is a big lesson to everybody, when you sell your business with your name, there are responsibilities. It’s a bit like children, they’re with you for life. You both have a responsibility. I sold in 1999. I stayed for five years, went through cancer treatment, came out a different person and left in 2006.

“I left, I exited, had nothing more to do with it. So 15 years I’ve had nothing… and the brand I started at the kitchen sink, there’s none of my spirit and my personality. And today I would say has nothing to do with me at all. At all.

“I am going to fight now for it back and my reputation and everything I believe in. I feel totally alone. I’ve reached out to no more than three people.”

She added: “I feel so humiliated. This man wasn’t using his image to just promote something – he brought his creativity.”

The original ad – with a running title of London Gent – saw John with family and friends in London’s Peckham.

The re-edited version has since been taken down from its Chinese ad campaign, Jo Malone saying in a statement: “We deeply apologise for what, on our end, was a mistake in the local execution of the John Boyega campaign.”

What’s more, Jo was disgusted at the fact that John was not spoken to before he was replaced in the ad.

She explained: “When you look at that video and you look through his eye being a child, that man brought his life story to people and to that brand and how dare somebody treat him – and he finds out he’s been replaced on social media.”

She went on: “That’s the bit that really gets to me. It’s the fact they never spoke to him, they never considered for one minute what he would feel like. That for me is utterly despicable and it’s disgusting. 

“I know apologies have been issued, but I’m sorry, this is somebody’s life. This is my life, this was his life. Don’t sit behind an apology and no one’s being human about this.

“And do you know what Jo Malone London, Estee Lauder corporation, this is your mess, clear it up.”

*Lorraine airs on weekdays on ITV from 9am.

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