The Weeknd Cuts Ties with H&M After Being “Shocked” and “Embarrassed” by Photo

The Weeknd took to Twitter today to personally denounce his working relationship after clothing company H&M posted a photo that The Weeknd was, “Deeply offended” by. The Weeknd has collaborate with H&M on his XO clothing line releases in the past.

The photo shows a young African American boy wearing an embroidered sweatshirt that says “Coolest Monkey In The Jungle.” Regardless of the meaning behind the children’s sweatshirt – it is definitely an oversight on H&M’s part to let an ad like this even be published. Other artists have already spoken out about the controversial ad including ?uestlove and A Tribe Called Quest.

Pitchfork reached out to H&M for a 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. –H&M

 

woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. i’m deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore… pic.twitter.com/P3023iYzAb

— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) January 8, 2018

 

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIC RAY DAVIDSON

The Weeknd Cuts Ties with H&M After Being “Shocked” and “Embarrassed” by Photo