Adidas apologises to Bella Hadid after dropping ad linked to 1972 Munich Olympics
Adidas has apologised to supermodel Bella Hadid after dropping a trainer campaign she featured in that made reference to the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Munich Olympics are infamous as the event in which 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terror group known as Black September.
The recent controversy centered around the German sportswear company’s choice of model to front the campaign, which was marketing its SL72 shoes.
Hadid is Palestinian-American and has been a prominent advocate for Palestinian relief efforts. The model's father, who is Palestinian, has also regularly criticised the Israeli government and the war against Hamas.
The Adidas advert sparked backlash from Israel's official social media account and other pro-Israeli groups, who described it as "sick" and "offensive".
The American Jewish Committee said choosing a “vocal anti-Israel model to recall this dark Olympics is either a massive oversight or intentionally inflammatory.”
“Neither is acceptable,” it added in a post on X. The group did not provide evidence or detail for its allegation that Hadid was “anti-Israel.”
The chief executive of the Combat Antisemitism Movement also said: "To have her launch a shoe commemorating an Olympics when so much Jewish blood was shed is just sick."
In a post on Instagram, Adidas said: "Connections continue to be made to the terrible tragedy that occurred at the Munich Olympics due to our recent SL72 campaign.
"These connections are not meant and we apologise for any upset or distress caused to communities around the world.
"We made an unintentional mistake.
"We also apologise to our partners, Bella Hadid, A$AP Nast, Jules Koundé, and others, for any negative impact on them and we are revising the campaign."
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The apology also comes after reports that Hadid was considering legal action against the company.
She hasn’t publicly commented about the controversy on her social media accounts.
Members of the Palestinian group Black September broke into the Olympic Village, killed two athletes from Israel’s national team and took nine more hostage on September 5, 1972.
The attackers hoped to force the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as well as two left-wing extremists in West German jails.
All nine hostages and a West German police officer died during a rescue attempt by German forces.
The Adidas controversy comes a week before the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics and amid the Israel-Gaza war.
Almost 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
On October 7 Hamas militants launched an assault on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took hundreds of hostages.
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