Naomi Campbell has left fans confused after she celebrated Rishi Sunak becoming the UK’s prime minister on Monday (24 October).
Sunak became the first person of South Asian origin to be named prime minister, with the announcement taking place on Diwali.
While the historic news has garnered mixed reactions from the South Asian community and among other ethnic minorities, few have been as surprising as the supermodel’s response.
Campbell, 52, posted a now-deleted photograph of Sunak with Diwali wishes illustrated around it and wrote in the caption: “Now this is right!”
She continued: “He has all the qualifications to do this… I hope you will be a prime minister all us all the people [sic]. Historical day in United Kingdom. A Diwali we will never forget.”
In her Instagram Stories, Campbell posted a screenshot of a headline announcing Sunak’s new position and added clapping emojis with the words: “Yes!! This is right!!”
But fans were baffled by her enthusiastic response to the new prime minister and took to Twitter to express their confusion.
“Naomi Campbell’s Instagram post about Rishi Sunak was a jumpscare moment for me,” one person wrote.
Another added crying emojis to their tweet and said: “Not Aunty Naomi doing up Rishi.”
A third said Campbell was “loving Rishi on Insta” and added a meme of a woman shouting: “Don’t you do this to me. Don’t you dare do this to me.”
Sunak’s new role as prime minister and leader of the Conservatives comes after his predecessor, Liz Truss, resigned last week following 44 tumultuous days.
Truss had taken over from Boris Johnson, who resigned on 7 July after he lost the support of his fellow MPs.
While Sunak’s rise to the top job made headlines in most Indian newspapers, with some people calling it a “Diwali gift”, others from the South Asian community have refused to celebrate.
Many cite Sunak’s extreme wealth during a time when millions of Britons are struggling to make ends meet as a reason for withholding their support, whereas others pointed to his track record in voting against free school meals during the coronavirus pandemic.
Author Poorna Bell tweeted: “People want me to be proud of a brown politician who voted against extending free school meals simply because I also have brown skin… until my dying breath it’ll be a no.”
Labour MP for Nottingham East, Nadia Whittome said: “Rishi Sunak and his wife sit on a fortune of £730,000,000. That’s around twice the estimated wealth of King Charles III.
“Remember this whenever he talks about making ‘tough decisions’ that working class people will pay for.”
People Just Do Nothing star Asim Chaudry also spoke out against Sunak’s wealth and told The Independent: ““In all seriousness, a man with that much wealth will never be able to relate or empathise with the average British citizen.
“Rishi’s wealth is bordering on obscene and further proves how his priorities will always be capitalistic in nature. Cash rules everything around him and not in a cool Wu-Tang kind of way.”
The Independent has contacted Campbell’s representative for comment.
