Italian luxury brand Gucci is apologizing after some customers called a turtleneck the label was selling “racist” and a form of blackface.
Gucci executives have apologized for the sale of the brand’s Balaclava knit top turtleneck that is meant to be worn somewhat like a ski-mask, featuring a mouth hole in the neck with a pair of red lips surrounding the whole.
Customers took to social media to blast the product as “racist,” with some calling it a form of blackface.
“Gucci: blackface But make it fashion,” a social media user commented.
A black wool Gucci turtleneck caused controversy as many critics called out the apparel brand for producing a racially insensitive sweater that resembles a person in blackface.
“Here’s a thought: fire anybody who saw the sweater and didn’t immediately say, ‘That’s repugnant; we can’t do this,'” one commenter wrote on social media. “You need diversity, yes, but mainly you need not to be tone deaf or in this case blind.”
“The real question is how the hell did someone approve this for sale,” another wrote.
In a statement online, Gucci executives apologized, saying they were pulling the product from shelves and would implement a “diversity” policy.
“Gucci deeply apologizes for the offense caused by the wool balaclava jumper,” brand executives said. “We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make.”
The apology by Gucci for the sweater comes in the midst of national controversy in Virginia where Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam featured a photograph in his college yearbook depicting a man in a Ku Klux Klan white hood while another man is dressed in blackface. The Democrat is refusing to resign.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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