‘Entitled’ actress slammed after bakery claims her PR firm asked for free goods for birthday bash

“Coronation Street” actress Catherine Tyldesley slammed the claim she offered exposure to a bakery in exchange for free cakes for her 40th birthday.

The Daily Mail reported that the actress clapped back at a bakery owner who allegedly refused to make her 100 cakes for a birthday bash in exchange for social media and magazine plugs.

Three Little Birds Bakery founder Rebecca Severs took to Facebook this week and posted a screenshot of an alleged email exchange that took place between her and the PR company that reportedly represents Tyldesley, requesting a cake for her 40th birthday party in September. That order would have been for a large birthday cake, a smaller one for her husband, and 100 cupcakes.

“This poor celebrity apparently can’t afford to pay people for their products and services. Spare a thought! What happened to women supporting women?” Severs wrote.

The actress was quick to respond to the baker’s post on Facebook.

She put out a video slamming it, “Utterly bizarre. I don’t really know what to say. I mean I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving.”

At the beginning of the video, Tyldesley exclaims, “Cake Gate! WHAT!”

“So I had no idea those emails were being sent. I’m not working with the lovely OK magazine on anything that I’m aware of and NVRLND are an amazing company. They’ve supplied me with performers in the past. They’re insane and they’ve been completely misrepresented in this matter,” she contended.

(Video Credit: Daily Mail)

The email that Severs received was posted on Facebook, saying, “We are organising a 40th Birthday Party for a well-known celebrity on the 1st of September 2023 in Manchester. In return for being a supplier for the event, payment would be made in the form of promotion on their socials with over 700K followers, as well as promoted on OK Magazine. They will be crediting all the suppliers on these platforms.”

“The party has a guest list full of celebrities and industry people from tv/film and music, so loads of work would come from it,” the email continued.

The email explained that the birthday theme desired would use “pinks, sparkles and a touch of flamingos.” The request specified one birthday cake with the theme “camp as tits,” as well as 100 cupcakes.

The smaller birthday cake was requested because “it’s actually her husband’s birthday that day and we wanted to surprise him.”

Her husband, photographer Tom Pitfield, turns 37 on the day of the birthday celebration.

“I’m so sorry to hear that your client has fallen on such hard times they can’t afford to pay small businesses for their products. Unfortunately as my mortgage provider doesn’t take payment ‘in the form of promotion on their socials,’ and my staff can’t feed their kids with exposure on Instagram, I’ll have to decline your very generous offer,” Severs responded to the email.

The bakery posted days later that it was being “threatened” with legal action over “Cake Gate.”

“I’ve now been threatened with legal action by… as a response to this post which they say is encouraging defamation of their business,” the post stated.

“Hi to all our new followers. We deal in delicious cakes and a generous side of sarcasm when necessary. We are getting a massive amount of phone calls, emails and messages as a result of the media coverage of the news story that is us refusing to work for heart emojis,” the bakery’s Facebook page posted.

“We are blown away by all your support and so happy to see that so many other people agree that small business shouldn’t be taken advantage of!” it added.

The bakery’s owner is fighting back over the whole row.

“It’s really important to highlight the issue of small businesses, especially in female-dominant industries, not earning a fair wage for their time and skill, especially in the cost-of-living crisis we are experiencing,” Severs told Rombalds Radio.

“We are proud of our team who are all highly skilled at cake baking and decorating, and proud to have built a successful business based on correct pricing which means our staff are paid a decent wage and have job stability. We wish the same for NVRLND and offer them and their clients our best regards for the future,” she said during the interview.

In a statement, Leeds-based event management firm NVRLND claimed that its email had been “completely misconstrued.”

Founder Victoria Eames said, “NVRLND contacted Three Little Birds Bakery to offer them the opportunity to collaborate with one of our clients to cater for a party. As part of the collaboration, our client would cover all of Three Little Birds Bakery’s expenses and costs in exchange for social media content and local and national exposure for their business. To confirm, NVRLND are also retained on the same expenses-only basis.”

“We selected Three Little Birds Bakery to collaborate with a view to support a local business and help them grow. Our aim is to connect small local businesses with the opportunity of growth and the possibility of a full diary which is what we have experienced when working on past collaborations. We would never expect any business to be out of pocket and nor would our client,” she claimed.

“Our email communication to Three Little Birds has unfortunately been completely misconstrued. Due to contractual obligations, we are unable to comment on the identity of our client,” Eames concluded.

The PR company and the actress were dragged on Twitter while the bakery was lauded for its response:

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