Sync Director, Alessandrio Bergman, confirmed that the agency had terminated its contract with Schoombe following the social media uproar that took place on Wednesday. The organisation was initially in support of the 21-year-old’s racial and body shaming remarks, and went onto Twitter to defend her and commented on the matter.
In a series of tweets, SYNC said: ” Good Morning SA, We address you in regards to the past tweets from our model @BIANCA1015Z . SYNC Models has taken this matter very seriously have (sic) taken into consideration that the tweets are 7-6 years old. We would like to mention that people should not dwell on the past, as it does not define one’s future and Bianca has grown holistically as a person. #BiancaForMissSA.
“When we signed Bianca in 2018, she still to this day represents exceptional qualities such as; 1)A positive outlook on life 2)Extremely well mannered 3)Strong work ethic 4)Being Poised, graceful and confident 5) Posses the quality of a leader that is relatable #BiancaForMissSA. “Bianca is a winner all the way no matter what, she is a leader that is adaptable and focused entirely on representing SA. SYNC Models will continue the representation of Bianca and support her endeavours leading up to @Official_MissSA . Thank You”.
The tweets were later deleted. The company has now backtracked and thrown Schoombe out in the cold. Bergman said in a statement: “The SYNC Group was flabbergasted to learn of such behaviour from one of our models. Therefore, out of respect for the other SYNC models and our clients, Bianca Schoombe and SYNC Models have mutually agreed to part ways in a civil manner, as well as her current contacted campaigns have been cancelled with immediate effect.”
“The mutual decision to release Ms Bianca Schoombe was due to the fact that she is in breach of her agreement and we do not condone any form of racial discrimination as we strongly believe in diversity and equality,” said Bergman. Bergman further apologized for their first statement. “Furthermore, we would profusely like to apologise to all South Africans for our actions in our first statement and the representation and vetting of Bianca Schoombe’s social media. We have now put measures in place to make sure that this does not happen again,” he said
