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The Weeknd cuts ties with H&M over “coolest monkey” photo
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 9 January 2018
The Weeknd has announced that he is ending his partnership with H&M. This follows the controversy surrounding a photo of a black child wearing a hoodie with the slogan “coolest monkey in the jungle” that was posted on the clothing brand’s website.
The musician first announced his tie-up with H&M in 2016, collaborating on a range of clothing featuring his own XO brand as well as modelling for the company.
Posting a screengrab of the offending image, The Weeknd tweeted yesterday: “Woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. I’m deeply offended and will not be working with H&M anymore”.
The hoodie, which was on sale in the UK, has now been withdrawn entirely. In a statement to Pitchfork, the company said: “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 continued: “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”.
