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Rapper Kodak Black says he isn’t going to follow the crowd when it comes to boycotting Gucci for selling a turtleneck sweater that, when pulled up over the lower half of the face, resembled blackface.
The Italy-based luxury clothing company has pulled the item off shelves and apologized, but fellow rappers T.I. and Soulja Boy have said they are boycotting Gucci nonetheless.
READ MORE: Soulja Boy demands an apology from Gucci, “I feel disrespected.”
Kodak Black, whose given name is Bill Kapri, says leave him out of this.
“See my little Gucci clothes that I bought?” he said on Instagram Live. “And I’ma wear it. I’m black, right? And I’m thug to the bone, right? … But sometimes Black people do be reaching for like no reason – just be reaching.”
He went on, “Them people ain’t do nothing. … Them people just had a little ski mask. There’s all kinds of ski masks in the world.”
https://twitter.com/UpdatesCulture/status/1095371626911285248
READ MORE: In wake of blackface scandals, Spike Lee calls for boycott of Prada, Gucci
The Culture Update posted the Instagram Live video on Twitter, prompting followers to condemn Kodak Black for his decision.
? Kodak Black will continue to wear #Gucci . Says “Black people really be reaching sometimes”. What are your thoughts? #KodakBlack #Blackface pic.twitter.com/GqEtQ6iHyZ
— The Culture Updates (@UpdatesCulture) February 12, 2019
This is an example and of why we can’t strive together.
— Darrell (@jdarrell2002) February 13, 2019
Kodak Black is seriously misguided and undereducated in terms of black history. Black people were mocked and label as being monkeys by white people. Yes blacks are doing the most and have died and paved the way for you to be where you are today-SON!
— Silverson (@silverson81) February 13, 2019
Posted @Silverson81, or Silverson, “Kodak Black is seriously misguided and undereducated in terms of Black history.”
The Gucci controversy is one of a series of such events to unfold in recent weeks involving blackface, a practice that some historians argue dates as far back as the European Renaissance, and evolved in America during slavery and Jim Crow eras to demean Black people.
Singer Katy Perry apologized for and pulled shoes from stores that appeared to sport blackface and Prada did the same for trinkets sold in its stores that resembled blackface. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring both have admitted to wearing blackface in the past and some of their constituents are calling on them to step down.