British agency Insanity apologizes to ex-client Char Ellesse after ‘unacceptable’ Zoom call

EXCLUSIVE: Insanity Group, the British agency that represents stars among others Love Island Host Maya Jama apologized to former client Char Ellesse after a Zoom call about her social media post.

Ellesse recently left insanity due to the September 29 call. She said the company showed a lack of understanding of the needs of Black and intersectional content creators when it asked them to increase the frequency of their social media updates.

Ellesse posted an edited 90-second clip of the hour-long video call on her Instagram account last month. An industry source brought this to Deadline’s attention and said it had been the talk of the UK agency community in recent days.

Ellesse said she felt “overwhelmed” and trapped after the “unacceptable” call. She accused Insanity of “pressuring” her over her belief that a tweak to Instagram’s algorithm had reduced engagement among content creators of diverse backgrounds.

To explain how others were also affected by the algorithm change, an Insanity agent commented positively on the results of a “whiter than white” client related to Ellesse’s social media activity.

The agent said during the Zoom call that the white client was “posting content every day” and “worked very hard to cut through the noise.” The Insanity employee also accused Ellesse of “getting angry”, which she denied.

Insanity took the position that all content creators would be affected by the algorithm change, but that the company is working with brands to increase opportunities for influencers from diverse backgrounds. Insanity believes the excerpt published by Ellesse does not accurately represent the entire conversation.

“I would like to try to work differently and work smarter not harder, but I feel I am not understood,” Ellesse said during the call.

The Insanity agent replied, “We never want to be in a position to mentor talent that isn’t happy with our service because…that will only make you mad at us and not me. I want that don’t have.”

In an interview with Deadline, Ellesse said she recorded the conversation because she was afraid she wouldn’t be believed. She posted the video on Instagram to prevent this from happening to others.

Ellesse explained: “I wanted Insanity to learn from this. You can’t just mess with people if you have to fight them in their corner.”

Insanity said it has apologized to Ellesse and is investigating the matter. She was invited to a meeting to discuss her concerns and there is talk of consulting with Insanity to prevent the incident from happening again.

Ellesse and Insanity had constructive discussions regarding their transition to new management. She was represented by Insanity for four years.

An Insanity spokesperson said: “We are aware of a social media post from a former customer that contained an edited recording of a conversation between that customer and one of our employees.

“We are thoroughly investigating the matter, have invited the client to a meeting and want to make it clear that the words used in this audio recording do not reflect what Insanity stands for.” The well-being of all our talent is extremely important to us. We have apologized to the former client and offered her our support.”

Insanity’s clients include Alice Levine, co-host of My father wrote a porno Podcast and Jo Whiley, the veteran BBC radio DJ.