Image: Wikimedia Commons
The Weeknd has cut ties with fashion giant H&M after a racially insensitive photo surfaced on its website of a young black boy wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the words, “Coolest monkey in the jungle" printed.“Woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo,” Abel Tesfaye wrote on Twitter. “I’m deeply offended and will not be working with H&M anymore.”Tesfaye has been working with the Swedish fashion retailer since 2017, modelling in their campaigns and collaborating under the XO brand.
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After the online advertisement received social media backlash from people including questlove, H&M issued a statement that read, “We sincerely apologize for offending people with this image of a printed hooded top… 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.”H&M then made the decision to pull the item from its range completely, issuing another statement.“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.”Follow Noisey on Twitter.