Sephora cancels partnership with Lori Loughlin’s Instagram-famous daughter Olivia Jade following explosive college-admissions scandal

Sephora

Sephora has ended its partnership with Olivia Jade Giannuli, the beauty brand announced on Thursday.
Olivia Jade’s parents — "Full House" star Lori Loughlin and the fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli — were accused on Tuesday of agreeing to pay $500,000 in bribes to facilitate Olivia Jade’s and her sister’s admission to the University of Southern California.
Olivia Jade previously promoted Sephora in sponsored Instagram posts and collaborated on a product with the company.

Sephora has canceled its partnership with Olivia Jade Giannulli after her parents were charged in an explosive college-admissions bribery scandal.

"After careful review of recent developments, we have made the decision to end the Sephora Collection partnership with Olivia Jade, effective immediately," a Sephora representative said in a statement to Business Insider on Thursday.

Olivia Jade Giannulli previously shared Instagram posts sponsored by Sephora and collaborated on an exclusive product with the beauty brand.

On Tuesday, federal agents charged Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, with agreeing to pay $500,000 in bribes in exchange for having Olivia Jade and her sister, Isabella Rose, designated as recruits to the USC crew team to facilitate their admission to USC; neither girl participates in crew.

An affidavit released by the Justice Department said that to perpetuate the falsehood that Olivia Jade Giannulli was an accomplished rower, Mossimo Giannulli allegedly photographed her on an indoor rowing machine and sent the photo to William Rick Singer, the accused ringleader of the scheme who was identified in filings as CW-1, to be included on a fabricated athletic profile.

The affidavit, which detailed charges against 32 parents, quoted an email from Loughlin to Singer in which she said her daughter was confused about how to submit her college application after being recruited as a USC rower. An employee of Singer’s submitted it for her, the document said.

No students were charged; prosecutors said that in most cases the students didn’t know their parents were involved in bribes.

As news has spread of the charges against Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, Olivia Jade Giannulli, who has more than one million Instagram followers and close to two million YouTube subscribers, faced significant backlash.

Comments on sponsored Instagram posts paid for by Amazon Prime Student and Direct Smile Club and that highlighted her status as a USC student have been flooded with criticism. The page for her Sephora collaboration was also filed with negative reviews, with more than 190 one-star reviews posted this week.

Olivia Jade x Sephora Collection

"This palette has such an intense highlight I thought it would blind others to my privilege and toxicity," one said. "Unfortunately, it did not work and instead left me dusty AF."

"As a VIB rouge member who unnecessarily spends her hard earned money in Sephora is disgusted that this product is still being sold," another said. "I’m tired of the beauty industry slapping on some 19 year old entitled rich kids names on products. I never buy these products and never would."

"I was a long time Sephora customer and will never buy anything from them again if they endorse this terrible unethical selfish lying brand," a third said.

As of 1:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, clicking a link to Olivia Jade’s Sephora collaboration brought viewers to a "productnotcarried" webpage. On Thursday morning, Sephora’s page indicated that the product had been "sold out."

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Source: Business Insider – ktaylor@businessinsider.com (Kate Taylor)