User:Aejones2nd18/sandbox

In their 2018 Fall/Winter Line, Gucci released a sold a black sweater with a roll up collar that covered the lower face. Around the lips was a red outline that made the wearer appear as though they were in blackface. Gucci offered an apology on February 6th, 2019. They said,” Gucci deeply apologizes for the offense caused by the wool balaclava jumper.We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make. We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make. We are fully committed to increasing diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment from the Gucci team and beyond. This statement was quickly followed with the removal of aforementioned sweater. [1]

In late 2018, Prada released a collection of accessories named “Pradamalion”. This collection contained a mascot with black skin and bright red lips that would adorn keychains and storefronts. Due to backlash from American social media users, Prada removed the line from circulation and issued the following statement,”Prada Group abhors racist imagery. The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface. Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery.  In this interest we will withdraw the characters in question from display and circulation.”[2]

in 2015, Denise Filiatrault, the creative director of the Montreal-based Theatre du Rideau Vert, decided to use a white actor in black face to portray P.K. Subban, a black hockey player, in the theatre’s annual year-end production. The show was met with descent by various critics. In response, Denise Filiatrault defended her point by claiming that she used blackface because hiring a black actor was too expensive to justify for a twelve second clip. She also was quoted as saying that she would never depict another black actor again in her theatre, blackface or no. [3]

In the summer of 2018, Katy Perry and the distribution company, Global Brands Group, released a line of shoes which displayed a pair of red lips and blue eyes over black leather. The release of the shoe was met with popular disapproval on American social media platforms, which resulted in the shoe being withdrawn from the Dillards online market. Katy Perry and Global Brand Group released a short statement saying,”I was saddened when it was brought to my attention that it was being compared to painful images reminiscent of blackface. Our intention was never to inflict any pain.” [4]

In June of 2018, Anders Carlson Wee wrote the poem, How-To. It was published by The Nation, a poetry magazine. The poem was written about a homeless man who describes the process of begging. He describes how he has to play up his situation to get money from bystanders. However, the poem was written in AAVA even though the writer was white. It also mentioned that the speaker was crippled and used his position to his advantage. Though the poem was not pulled from the magazine, The editors, Stephanie Burt and Carmen Giménez Smith, released a statement. Within the letter, The Nation says that they had misinterpreted the meaning of the text. [5]

In the Summer of 2018, director Robert Lepage exhibited a play titled Slav during the Montreal International Jazz Festival. The play, which showed at the Theatre du Nouveau Monde, contained various scenes which consisted white actors playing characters outside of their race. One of these scenes depicted white actors playing African slave women in the process of picking cotton. The show showed two times, but its third show was cancelled after protests grew too belligerent. One of the more extreme examples of this was an instance where  a black woman was reportedly slapped in the face by one of the white show-goers.[6]