Did Aishwarya oust Sonam from walking the red carpet at Cannes?

According to the official announcement form L’Oreal on May 11th, Sonam Kapoor was supposed to walk the red carpet for the company at Cannes. Their announcement read:

“Raising the toast to celebrate the association, Sonam Kapoor was welcomed as the youngest member to join the L’Oreal Paris dream team that includes awe-inspiring beauties such as Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan), Penelope Cruz, Naomi Lenoir, Andie MacDowell, Beyonce Knowles, Laetitia Casta, Kerry Washington, Milla Jovovich, Michelle Yeoh, Eva Longoria and Scarlett Johansson. 2009 will be a highlight year for the L’Oreal Paris brand in India as both its spokespersons – the iconic Aishwarya Rai and Sonam will represent Indian beauty and talent oversees at the Cannes Film Festival alongside other members of the dream team.”

However on May 12th they released another statement that read, “We do not want to take part in or encourage any controversy involving our spokespeople. There were adverse reports in certain sections of media after some comments by Sonam Kapoor, which were presented out of context.

Following this, in order to avoid further escalation, we have advised Sonam not to go to Cannes as was planned earlier, bearing in mind that there would be more interesting opportunities for future appearances in Europe for her.”

Sonam had expressed her joy about the fact saying that It was a dream come true for her to walk the red carpet amongst bevy of beauties like Aishwarya Rai, Eva Longoria and Penelope Cruz for L’Oreal at Cannes Film Festival 2009. But now, Sonam has not been invited by the brand but is there with her father Anil Kapoor as a visitor.

With all her dreams shattered, there has been an array of speculations as to why Sonam was ousted from walking the red carpet at the last moment. Some say that Ash is the reason behind this. Ash always felt that she and only she was the international face of the brand and when she came to know about Sonam’s walking the red carpet at Cannes, she put her foot down due to which the company had to do away with Sonam at the event. At the Cannes festival press conference, Aishwarya reportedly called Sonam’s statements on the party day as juvenile and irresponsible.

However Ash’s spokesperson denies Ash’s involvement in the whole issue, saying, “She (Aishwarya) did not even know that Sonam was going to be at Cannes because she was there for just two days (May 13-14) where her days were packed with back-to-back interactions with the international media, fashion shoots for various European fashion magazines and other business meetings besides attending all the events at the festival.”

What could be the real reason? Any guesses folks?

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