The clothing line company Forever 21, is getting a lot of flak for its ad featuring a White model. The model is wearing a sweater inspired by the hit Marvel movie Black Panther with the words “Wakanda Forever” — and Black Twitter is not happy.
Forever 21 listed the item online as the “Wakanda Forever Fair Isle Sweater.” The ad, which features a blond-haired, blue-eyed male model seems to scream “colonizer,” and fans of Black Panther have called the model T’Chad, a take on the name T’Challa, the Black Panther. After brutal online criticism, the folks at Forever 21 got the message and are now only showing the sweater, without the model.
The company issued the following statement:
“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.”
Here are just a few of the posts from #BlackTwitter:
Wakanda bulls— is this, @Forever21? pic.twitter.com/S4ZVryPXWB
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) December 18, 2018
Hey @Forever21 this ain’t it pic.twitter.com/D31C8gN7jv
— BMW the DJ (@BMWTHEDJ) December 18, 2018
@Forever21 Ummmmmmmmmm What in the T’Challa knockoff is this? Forever 21, we need answers please. Literally sitting here slow blinking. pic.twitter.com/ncMKEOO3TQ
— KimberlyDewayn (@KimDSummons) December 18, 2018
Black Twitter wins again! Y’all done made them people take the model out the sweater! Only item with no “body” 😂😂 #BlackPanther #WakandaForever #forever21 pic.twitter.com/TAgu1GgSAX
— Tyson Bolding (@MissTyson) December 19, 2018
