Ipinahayag ng mang-aawit sa Twitter nitong Martes na siya ay “shocked and embarrassed” sa nakitang larawan ng isang itim na batang model ng hoodie, na may nakasulat na “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.”
“I’m deeply offended and will not be working with H&M anymore,” saad niya.
Nagtrabaho si The Weeknd, Abel Tesfaye ang tunay na pangalan, para sa mga ad campaign at collaborations sa Swedish retailer para sa XO brand simula pa noong nakaraang taon.
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Agarang binatikos ang ad sa social media nang mag-viral nitong Martes. Ang iba pang mga bituin, gaya ni Questlove, ay nagpahayag din ng pagkadismaya.
“I’m sure the apologies are a coming. And the ads will be pulled. I’m certain there will Be media fixers and whatnot and maybe a grand gesture like a donation to some charity (donations under these circumstances are the corporate version #SomeOfMyBestFriendsAre move if there ever was one) all this tells me about @HM is that the seats in the boardroom lack something…wanna take a guess?” post ni Questlove sa Instagram.
Naglabas na ang H&M ng apology sa racist undertones ng larawan. “We sincerely apologize for offending people with this image of a printed hooded top. The image has been removed from all online channels and the product will not be for sale in the United States. We believe in diversity and inclusion in all that we do and will be reviewing all our internal policies accordingly to avoid any future issues,” pahayag ng kumpanya na inilabas sa USA Today.
Kalaunan ay nag-isyu ang kumpanya ng pangalawang pahayag sa Pitchfork, at sinabing, “We understand that many people are upset about the image. We, who work at H&M, can only agree. We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print. Therefore, we have not only removed the image from our channels, but also the garment from our product offering globally. It is obvious that our routines have not been followed properly. This is without any doubt. We will thoroughly investigate why this happened to prevent this type of mistake from happening again.” - Variety
