Fashion icons Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce asked for China’s forgiveness Friday after they were forced to cancel a major event due to an online backlash against an ad campaign made worse by a racist comment, reports the South China Morning Post.
“We offer our sincerest apologies to Chinese people worldwide,” said Gabbana.
“We hope our misunderstanding of Chinese culture can be forgiven,” added Dolce
The co-founders of Dolce and Gabbana were responding to the overwhelmingly negative reaction to an ad featuring a fumbling Chinese model trying to eat pizza with a chopstick.
That was reportedly followed by a comment from Gabbana referring to “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia” and using a smiling poo emoji to describe the country, according to Reuters
Most of the online comments about the apology on the Chinese social media site Weibo have been negative.
The retailer Lane Crawford said on Friday it would remove the Dolce and Gabbana brand from its stores and online sites in China.
According to Reuters, China accounts for one-third of all sales of luxury brands.
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