H&M Apologizes for Kids Shirt with ‘Monkey’ Message

Clothing retailer H&M will pull a children’s sweatshirt amid backlash, the company announced Monday. The sweatshirt, which reads “coolest monkey in the jungle,” was modeled by a black child on the company’s website, resulting in what appeared to reference a racial slur. Social-media users called the image insensitive, prompting musician The Weeknd to tweet that he was “deeply offended” by the shirt and would no longer work with H&M. “We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print,” H&M told the The New York Times in a statement. “Therefore, we have not only removed the image from our channels, but also the garment from our product offering globally.”