Yesterday, H&M apologized and removed an online catalog image that appeared in the U.K. of a black child wearing a sweatshirt reading “Coolest Monkey In The Jungle.” But that didn’t spare the retailer criticism from past collaborators like The Weeknd, who said he’d no longer be working for the brand.
Now Jesse Williams, who starred in H&M’s recent big budget holiday campaign alongside Nicki Minaj, is speaking out against the brand. In an appropriately scathing statement on Instagram, the actor and activist called the incident a “pathetic excuse for corporate behavior and [ir]responsibility.” He also said this was merely a symptom of a bigger problem, rightly evident in the image of H&M’s all-white board of directors. “These offenses are about the room where it happens, more than the item that happened to be spilled all over us, this time.”
Williams characterized his reaction as not “shock,” but rather “boredom,” and ended with a call for consumers to exercise their power of choice and vote with their dollars.
