Vogue Italia shared a 'Pic of the day' photo to their Instagram account on Tuesday of what appears to be a Black man wearing a cone-shaped white hood, similar to the Ku Klux Klan hood, but equipped with a Nike swoosh.
This morning, #VogueItalia posted this image of a Black Man wearing a reimagined Ku Klux Klan hood as their photo of the day. The controversy that ensued caused them to delete. Read more here: https://t.co/htk2jvOPQN
pic.twitter.com/1GQd2zvPBs— The Fashion Bomb (@thefashionbomb) June 25, 2019
The photo in question was reportedly the brainchild of Moroccan photographer Mous Lamrabat, who initially shared it to his Instagram account, with the caption: "KousKousKlan Fear is a tricky thing, what if we take symbols that fear us and bring it in a way that it becomes something we can smile at?”
According to Fashion Bomb Daily, Vogue Italia shared the photo to its Instagram account, with the caption "Today's pic of the day in #PhotoVogue is by @mouslamrabat. Discover more day by day."
Both posts have since been deleted — Lamrabat reportedly even posted, then deleted, another photo of a man with balloons in place of his head, with the caption: “Maybe this is better than… I’m very sorry but ignorants won again…” — but social media users took screenshots of the original posts and are commenting on both pages.
"I HAVE SCREENSHOTS OF YOUR HATE SPEECH PROPAGANDA ON MY PAGE I WANT AN APOLOGY FOR THE JEWISH , BLACK COMMUNITY," one person commented on a recent Vogue Italia post, before sharing a screenshot of the original photo in question to her page.
Another user wrote: "Can’t unsee that kous kous klan glitch in your system."
Users also commented about the issue under one of Lamrabat's recent posts:
"It’s a shame what you did recently. Before posting something so offensive please educate yourself," one user stated.
Another user hopes the photographer has learned his lesson since deleting the initial post.
"Your page is gorgeous, and you could’ve done a lot with the caption for the photo depicting a man of colour in KKK garb, but I think you fell victim to the fact that you aren’t well versed in the history surrounding the white hood and robe, and so as a result, unintentionally (I hope…) made light of it. I think you’re getting a bad rap, but I trust you’ve learned a thing or two."