Over recent weeks, following the tragic death of George Floyd in the US, many people have been protesting and sharing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
One such person who has been vocal about the cause is photographer, Shakira Rochelle.
Shakira has shared posts on Instagram and Facebook, writing: “Shakira Rochelle Photography stands in solidarity with the black community.
“The black lives matter movement has my endless support.”
And while many applauded her for sharing these posts, there were some who didn’t exactly agree with the statement.
The photographer was recently left stunned when a bride who had hired her services for her big day messaged to cancel the job, over the BLM post.
The unnamed bride-to-be explained that she’d seen the post and would now be “truly embarrassed” to have Shakira working at her wedding.
A screenshot of the message went viral after being shared on Twitter.
It read: “Hi Shakira, I’m sorry to say that we are requesting a refund on the deposit for our wedding.
“We have done a lot of talking and we cannot bring ourselves to support anyone who is so outspoken on matters that simply do not concern them as well as someone that does not believe that ALL lives matter.
“We would be truly embarrassed to have you at our event and feel that you aren’t stable enough to complete the job we need from you.
“Please let me know when and how we can expect our refund and we are requesting to be relieved from our contract. Thanks.”
Shakira had the perfect response, informing the bride that she would be using their non-refundable deposit to make a donation to Black Lives Matter.
She said: “I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately the contract you signed states that your deposit is non-refundable.Q.@PINKdot_COM
I love it here.
“I will email you a cancellation agreement shortly that will require your signature to forfeit your date.”
She added: “I wish you a life time of growth and I would like to thank you for your donation to Black Lives Matter.”
The messages were shared on Twitter by a user named Q who posts under @PINKdot_COM where they garnered over one million likes and thousands of retweets.
The tweet was captioned: “I love it here.”
Q later shared Shakira’s business details so people could support her work.
Following some backlash, in which she was accused of attempting to ‘profit’ off the Black Lives Matter movement, Shakira shared a statement about the viral post on Facebook.
She admitted she’d never intended for it to go viral.
“I was hoping to lay low until this frenzy blew over but today I woke up to something that hurt my soul. There is a photoshopped screenshot circulating stating that coming forward with this story was a business tactic to make a profit on the blm movement,” she wrote.
“The original post started out private until a friend asked if she could share it. I never had the intentions or the desire to go viral for this or anything else.
“Prior to this I am already booked until winter. I am not in need for clients or business as I already don’t have enough availability as it is.”
She added: “I have always stood up for human rights and will continue to do so. I have marched with my loved ones as well as alone. My intentions are pure.”