The Weeknd, LeBron James and other stars blast ‘monkey’ hoodie as H&M apologizes

The fallout continues for Swedish retailer H&M, which on Monday apologized for an ad showing a black child wearing a hoodie with the words, “coolest monkey in the jungle.”

The company pulled the advertisement, which ran on its e-commerce site in the U.K. But that did not silence critics who still, on Tuesday, talked about boycotting the company.

“In the car this morning, heard an analyst on the radio say ‘this too shall pass’ and that people will forget about the ‘monkey in the jungle’ controversy in a week,” tweeted MSNBC host Joy Reid.

“Yet the convo I’m hearing this morning among AA friends is “bye, @hm.” We shall see.”

The ad has already cost the company its partnership with singer The Weeknd, who said he was “shocked and embarrassed” by the photo and cut his ties to H&M on Monday.

He began working with the company last year, according to Rolling Stone, modeling for ads and collaborating on pieces for his XO brand.

H&M issued apologies to media outlets, saying that it had removed the image and is no longer selling the sweatshirt “globally.”

“We sincerely apologize for offending people with this image of a printed hooded top. The image has been removed from all online channels and the product will not be for sale in the United States,” one of the company’s apologies said.

“We believe in diversity and inclusion in all that we do and will be reviewing all our internal policies accordingly to avoid any future issues.”

On Monday NBA star LeBron James retooled the ad’s photo, superimposing a crown on the boy’s head and adding the headline, “KING OF THE WORLD.”

“Enough about y’all and more of what I see when I look at this photo,” James wrote in his post. “I see a Young King!! The ruler of the world, an untouchable Force that can never be denied!

“We as African Americans will always have to break barriers, prove people wrong and work even harder to prove we belong but guess what, that’s what we love because the benefits at the end of the road are so beautiful!!”

Diddy made over the advertisement, too. “Put some respect on it!! When you look at us make sure you see royalty and super natural God sent glory!! Anything else is disrespectful,” he tweeted.

Manchester United soccer star Romelu Lukaku amplified the outrage.

“I’m sure the apologies are a coming,” musician Questlove wrote on Instagram. “And the ads will be pulled.

“I’m certain there will Be media fixers and whatnot and maybe a grand gesture like a donation to some charity (donations under these circumstances are the corporate version #SomeOfMyBestFriendsAre move if there ever was one) all this tells me about @HM is that the seats in the boardroom lack something...wanna take a guess?”

This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 11:22 AM.