Instagram followers of Australian model Sophie Applegarth called her out after she posted photos on her account of her and friends dressed as "Venus and Serena Williams".
In another post by friend Sally Coburn, captioned “Bryant and his bitches” the trio appear dressed in blackface by a pool with cans of alcohol, and Ms Applegarth appearing to grope her friend.
Although all posts have since been removed, screenshots of the images were quickly posted to Twitter and for a period Ms Applegarth's Instagram was deactivated.
Model Sophie Applegarth and friends posing in blackface. Source: Instagram
Later a statement was posted on her Instagram.
"Disclaimer — I had no 'racist' or malicious intent by the photos I just uploaded," the post read.
"We were praising our fav sports stars Serena and Venus Williams. Did not mean to offend."
Ms Applegarth’s agent, the prestigious Chic Management, was subject to tweets from upset users, but have so far remained silent.
As of 4pm Friday, been removed from the Chic Management website, although information is still available in Google Search results, indicating it was recently pulled down.
The model also no longer appears in the results for women on the prestigious agency’s website.
It’s unclear whether or not Chic Management has cut ties with the model over the incident.
Model Sophie Applegarth and friends posing in blackface. Source: Instagram
NITV has reached out to the agency for comment.
