Lululemon Gets Fried After Former Art Director Promotes ‘Racist’ Bat T-Shirt
Image via Dani Berszt / Shutterstock.com
Athletic wear retailer Lululemon has apologized after its former art director promoted a sale of “bat fried rice” t-shirts.
Trevor Fleming had directed fans to the website of Californian artist Jess Sluder, who was retailing long-sleeved shirts emblazoned with a pair of chopsticks with bat wings on the front.
The tops also featured a Chinese takeout box with bat wings at the back, along with the words “no thanks.”
“Where did COVID-19 come from? Nothing is certain, but we know a bat was involved,” Sluder—who is not an employee of Lululemon—captioned her Instagram post. Her post additionally included hashtags like “#batfriedrice” and “#humornothate.”
The apparel triggered outrage from internet users, who dubbed the shirts “racist.” Critics also demanded the piece to be taken down as it could stir anti-Asian sentiments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many Lululemon customers, too, demanded a boycott of the brand. “Lululemon, usually I am one of your biggest customers,” one Instagram user said. “Today, however, I am disappointed by your lack of transparency. Not only did your employee blatantly display xenophobia and racism, but he also exploited COVID-19 just to make a few bucks,” the customer added.
Lululemon, however, was swift to hopefully mitigate the situation. The brand labeled the post “inappropriate and inexcusable,” and apologized for the employee’s behavior.
A spokesperson for Lululemon said, “At Lululemon, our culture and values are core to who we are, and we take matters like this extremely seriously. The image and the post were inappropriate and inexcusable and we do not tolerate this behavior.”
Fleming, who worked as an art director at Lululemon since 2017, apologized for promoting the offensive t-shirts. He commented that while he didn’t participate in “any part of its creation,” sharing the design on his Instagram “was wrong.”
“It is something I deeply regret, and my eyes have been opened to the profound ripple effect that this mistake has had," Fleming said. “I apologize to those that have been hurt by this, I commit to standing up against racist or discriminatory behavior and will work hard to ensure that my personal and professional contributions in the future are kind, inclusive and supportive.”
Lululemon has confirmed that Fleming “is no longer” an employee at the company and that the t-shirt is not from its range. Customers, however, thought that Fleming’s termination wasn’t enough and urged Lululemon to issue a public apology.
There have been 100+ daily attacks on Asian Americans since the start of #COVID19. To see people adding to the hurt & racism hurts my heart. I hope someone picks up this story and these individuals take responsibility. I am more proud than ever to be part of the AA community. ✊🏼 pic.twitter.com/nWy9WJeMVE
— Kamauri Yeh (@yehwho) April 19, 2020
Please apologize publicly on your Twitter, Instagram and Facebook channels. We don’t want to see you “doing nothing” in the face of racism. We’ll like to see acknowledgement and change
— Marie (@sojuswarrior) April 21, 2020
This is one of the designers response. Blasphemy. So bored that it’s bringing out your racism. I’m in disbelief pic.twitter.com/FcOSHOsRcB
— Germ (@VZmaestro) April 19, 2020
It both saddens and enrages me to see demeaning and disgraceful racial bigotry perpetuated in the name of art. Jess Sluder and Trevor Flemming of @lululemon both doubled down on selling their tasteless creation until public backlash was overwhelming. https://t.co/LzUwwM5bKI
— Kendrick (@kenzientious) April 21, 2020
[via NBC News, opening image via Dani Berszt / Shutterstock.com]
