This week in trending topics, an NFL player is killed and Gap is under fire for advertisement.
New Orleans Saints football player killed
The NFL community was rocked to its core with the fatal shooting of former Saints player, Will Smith. The defensive end was shot and killed because of an apparent road rage incident in New Orlean’s upscale Lower Garden District.
According to New Orleans police, Smith’s Mercedes Benz SUV was rear-ended by an H2 Hummer driven by suspected shooter Cardell Hayes, which caused the SUV to crash into another car. The two got into a verbal altercation when Hayes’ reportedly shot both Smith and Smith’s wife Raquel, who was wounded in the leg.
According to Hayes’ attorney, he ran into the back of Smith’s car after trying to chase down a hit-and-run driver who had rear-ended his Hummer just moments before.
After the shooting, Hayes stayed on the scene and even called 911. Once police arrived, he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He is currently being held on a $1 million bond.
Gap receives backlash for children’s ad
Popular clothing company, The Gap, is receiving a ton of backlash for an advertisement that people are calling racially insensitive. Last week, Gap released advertisements for a new kid’s line in partnership with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres called Le PeTiT CiRque.
Gap took to twitter to introduce the line, uploading an advertisement picture with a caption that said, “Meet the girls who are proving that girls can do anything.” However, it wasn’t the caption that turned people off, it was the advertisement.
The picture features four little girls, three white and one black. While two of the girls are striking a pose, the other child is using the black child’s head as a prop to rest her arm on. In addition, in the advertisement video, while the other three girls had speaking roles, the black child remained silent.
The image caused the users of Twitter to erupt in anger.
“@GapKids What is the message for Black girls? Are they meant to be seen as subordinate? Shame on you, Gap!” -@VeganWhileBlack
“@GapKids proving girls can do anything… unless she’s Black. Then all she can do is bear the weight of White girls. #EpicFail” -@TheTherapyDiva
All of the controversy surrounding the picture turned out to be a big misunderstanding. The two girls centered around the controversy are adoptive sisters, daughters of “Grey’s Anatomy” actor Brooke Smith.
Smith went on Twitter to clear the air by saying:
“Girl with arm resting on her shoulder is her sister. She didn’t talk in video because she was 2 shy. Everyone needs to calm down.”
Gap Founder Nathalie Yves Gaulthier released the following statement via ABC News:
“The child in the ad is not an “armrest,” she’s the other girl’s little sister. Our company is deeply saddened by some people misconstruing this as racist, and are keeping the children out of this at the moment to protect their beautiful feelings, but we are extremely supportive of dialogue in our country to move past any racial barriers. We stand by Gap Kids and Ellen DeGeneres.”
