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Last week it was Gucci, this week it’s Burberry. The luxury brand had a hoodie with a noose at London Fashion Week and there has been outrage.

SEE ALSO: Dapper Dan Vows To Hold Gucci ‘Accountable’ For Blackface Sweater

The hoodie with a noose has been accused of being insensitive to suicide and being racially offensive. See below:

Marco Gobbetti, Burberry chief executive officer, said in a statement reported by CNN, “We are deeply sorry for the distress caused by one of the products that featured in our A/W 2019 runway collection Though the design was inspired by the marine theme that ran throughout the collection, it was insensitive and we made a mistake.”

Burberry’s chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci, the show’s designer, also said, “I am so deeply sorry for the distress that has been caused as a result of one of the pieces in my show on Sunday.  While the design was inspired by a nautical theme, I realize that it was insensitive. It was never my intention to upset anyone. It does not reflect my values nor Burberry’s and we have removed it from the collection. I will make sure that this does not happen again.”

The hoodie was criticized by model Liz Kennedy who wrote on her Instagram, “Suicide is not fashion. It is beyond me how you could let a look resembling a noose hanging from a neck out on the runway.” She also mentioned the “horrifying history of lynching.”

The apology from Burberry feels weak considering there was no mention of suicide or lynchings. But this happens every week. Last week, Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s president and CEO, flew to New York City and met with legendary designer Dapper Dan, along with other community activists, due to their blackface sweater.

Bizzarri said in statement the will begin four initiatives, which include hiring global and regional directors for diversity and inclusion, creating a multicultural design scholarship program, launching a diversity and inclusivity awareness program, and implementing a global exchange program.

See below:

After an avalanche of criticism, Gucci ended sales of its $890 balaclava black-knit women’s sweater that could be pulled up over the lower half of the wearer’s face. It featured signature bright red lips associated with blackface as a cut-out for the mouth.

In Bizzarri’s original statement he apologized and said, “This is due to the ignorance of this matter,” the CEO explained.

That, however, was hard to believe because blackface controversies also exist in Europe.

In 2017, Italian comedian Gabriele Pellegrini, who goes by the stage name Dado, wore blackface in a performance that mocked African immigrants in Italy, Forbes reported. He dressed as a Black kebab seller—mimicking a broken foreign Italian accent—in his racist commentary on the influx of African migrants.

There’s also growing opposition in the Netherlands to Black Pete, the purported blackface assistant of Santa Claus who does the work of climbing down chimneys to deliver gifts. Much of the protest against Pete comes from Black residents who are forcing the Dutch to remember that their nation colonized people of color for more than three centuries and to acknowledge that the colonizer mentality persists.

It has been a rough Black History Month.

SEE ALSO:

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