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Indonesian influencer, Sarah Salsabila, who goes by Sarah Keihl online, reportedly made the offer in a video on Instagram where she said she was willing to auction off her virginity with a starting price of more than 100 000 GBP (about R2,1 million).
She said in the video, "A pretty tough decision in my life. Maybe some of you understand this, but I've decided I'll do so to raise funds to help those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic."
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Sarah said that the proceeds of the auction would go to Covid-19 frontliners and those affected financially by the pandemic.
She reportedly told her 232 000 followers that the auction would begin at 9 pm Indonesian time last Wednesday.
However, before the auction started, the influencer faced a backlash from users in Indonesia, a Muslim country, and has now said the auction was not real but just a piece of "satire" aimed at people not taking coronavirus seriously enough.
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Explaining the stunt, she says, "I'm sorry for creating the controversy. In truth, the virginity auction was my idea of satire for those who aren't sensitive to the situation."
Indonesian influencer, Sarah Salsabila. All images courtesy CEN/ @sarahkeihl/ Magazine Features
Sarah says she and her family have been receiving abuse over her post and has offered to pay for 1 000 packages of grocery aid as a way of apologising.
"I'm really sorry for all the inconvenience caused. I didn't mean to come up with such a degrading post and I didn't even mean to sell off my virginity in the first place," Sarah says.
However, a leaked conversation between Sarah and a friend on Instagram reportedly shows her saying that she had staged the stunt with her manager. It also appears as if an apology had already been planned.
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Story by: CEN/ @sarahkeihl/ Magazine Features
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