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.
Related: Miss USA Apologizes
Why? The model was a white, blonde, blue-eyed man:
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.
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:
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.]