Look, maybe this isn’t racism. But at best it is SO TONE DEAF!
Forever 21 posted a tweet on Tuesday advertising their new Black Panther sweater, and it understandably bothered quite a few fans.
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Why? The model was a white, blonde, blue-eyed man:
Just in case @Forever21 tries to delete this later…. pic.twitter.com/8czypjMutr
— LaBlaq (@LoveAndShalom) December 18, 2018
Fans quickly saw that ALL the official Black Panther merch on the site was being worn exclusively by white models — while the sole black model was wearing a generic panther sweater.
https://twitter.com/lisa2bags/status/1075093687493787648
The tweet was deleted just minutes after being posted, but not before being screenshot dozens of times.
We honestly don’t know what they expected! Black Panther is really special to a lot of people!
See more of the incensed reactions on Twitter:
Wakanda bullshit is this, @Forever21? pic.twitter.com/S4ZVryPXWB
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) December 18, 2018
Not even Wakanda can escape gentrification. @blavity @blackpanther @urbanintellectuals @forever21 #forever21 pic.twitter.com/XBwJyyUCk2
— Jesuorobo Enobakhare Jr (@Jesuorobo) December 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/felicianista/status/1075120747276836864
How is this real? pic.twitter.com/7CbRUjSyhX
— Ξvan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) December 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Unaamorcita/status/1075092440191827968
.@forever21 wakanda forever! pic.twitter.com/sb1QU2Ks7C
— Andy Downing (@andydowning33) December 18, 2018
LOLz!
The outfitter reached out to TMZ after seeing the backlash, saying:
“Forever 21 takes feedback on our products and marketing extremely seriously. We celebrate all superheroes with many different models of various ethnicities and apologize if the photo in question was offensive in any way.”
They also switched out the pics on their site to include just the clothes with no models at all.
Seriously, how could they NOT know that was going to bother people??
What do YOU think, Perezcious fashionistas??
[Image via Marvel Studios/YouTube.]
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