Social media star Sopha Dopha has apologised for causing offence over a Steve Irwin themed costume (Picture: Instagram/@sophadophaa__ /Getty)
A TikTok star has apologised for wearing a stingray costume to an Australia themed party.
Sopha Dopha, who has 1.2million followers on the platform, said she didn’t mean to offend anyone with her costume of choice, however, has since deleted her apology.
The 19-year-old insisted that ‘on reflection’ she didn’t end up wearing the costume.
In her initial video, Sopha reportedly told her followers that she was going as a stingray and her friend was dressing up as Steve Irwin.
Steve, known for his fearless confrontation of dangerous beasts around the world, died in September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb.
According to the Mirror, Sopha said in her now-deleted apology: ‘Hi guys, I just wanted to jump on here to clear up some things.
The 19-year-old insisted that ‘on reflection’ she didn’t end up wearing the costume (Picture: Instagram/@sophadophaa_)
Steve died in September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb (Picture: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)
‘I love Steve Irwin and would never want to cause disrespect to his family or legacy. He is an iconic Aussie and no offence was meant by my costume.’
She went on: ‘I have thought about and reflected on my costume and I will not be wearing it and apologise wholeheartedly to anyone who was offended by it. That was definitely not my intention. I apologise sincerely.’
Sopha first uploaded a video of herself in the costume on Wednesday.
On the day of Steve’s death, he had been due to be filming for a show called Ocean’s Deadliest, but it had been called off due to bad weather.
Sopha first uploaded a video of herself in the costume on Wednesday (Picture: TikTok/@sophadophaa)
He then decided to head to Batt Reef with his cameraman Justin Lyons and director John Stainton to get some footage for his daughter’s show, Bindi the Jungle Girl.
At the time, the cameraman said: ‘He had been filming for his own show, Ocean’s Deadliest, but suddenly he said he was off to seek out some normally harmless stingrays.
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‘It should have been an innocent encounter for a TV show aimed at children.’
The icon was killed when a 220lb bull stingray behaved unusually aggressively, stabbing the wildlife expert hundreds of times with the barb on its tail, piercing Steve’s heart which caused fatal internal bleeding.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Sopha’s reps for comment.
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The influencer was attending an Australia party