Supermodel Bella Hadid has apologized via her social media channels after she posted an image where her foot appeared to rest on planes with Saudi and UAE flags on them, drawing accusations of racism.
The model, 22, shared the image of her shoe leaning against an airport window to her Instagram stories on Sunday with the caption, “another one.”
Showing the sole of your shoe is perceived as an insult in Arab culture and the backlash was immediate with Twitter commenters sharing the hashtag #BellaHadidIsRacist.
The model’s social media was inundated with Saudi and Emirati flag emojis as well as shoe emojis. Critics swiftly called on major fashion brands Dior and Versace to stop working with Hadid by threatening to boycott their products and striking out at Hadid for her “fake ‘apology.’”
Hadid’s father is Palestinian, so many social media users construed the airport image as some kind of statement, though the model denied even seeing the planes in the background when she posted the image and insisted it had “NOTHING to do with politics.”
Hadid was involved in another racism row in February 2017 after sharing an image of her sister Gigi holding up a Buddha cookie and squinting her eyes to imitate an Asian face.
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