Gucci has issued an apology for selling a sweater resembling blackface and pulled it from stores. The black turtleneck-style sweater features an opening with a pair of bright red lips that can be stretched around the wearer’s mouth. To many people on social media, the $890 sweater looked like the blackface makeup used historically by white performers to mock and make caricatures of African Americans.
”Gucci deeply apologizes for the offense caused by the wool balaclava jumper,” the company said in a statement. “We can confirm that the item has been immediately removed from our online store and all physical stores.”
Will African Americans continue to support a brand that doesn’t support them? As a people, we condemn people in our community for their immoral actions although as a people so often we turn a blind eye to actions of those outside of our community. Only time will tell, but I am sure I will still see Gucci bags, belts, and flip flops out and about.
Jerome Hurt
