Man Utd star Romelu Lukaku joins H&M “racist” image backlash

Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku has become the latest celebrity to hit out at H&M after an image of a hoodie-wearing black child, accompanied by the slogan “coolest monkey in the jungle”, appeared on its UK website. Lukaku, who has more than 2.3 million Instagram followers, modified the slogan to “Black Is Beautiful” and wrote: "You're prince soon to be a king. Don't let anybody tell you different... #blackexcellence". The post has so far received over 171,00 likes.

Earlier this week, The Weeknd, severed ties with H&M. The Canadian singer and record producer, who has a clothing line with the retailer, tweeted: "Woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. I'm deeply offended and will not be working with H&M anymore." He first teamed up with H&M in 2017, modelling in ad campaigns and collaborating on pieces for his XO brand. 

Meanwhile, basketball star LeBron James said: “@hm u got us all wrong! And we ain't going for it! Straight up! Enough about y'all and more of what I see when I look at this photo. 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!! #LiveLaughLove❤️ #LoveMyPeople”.

A H&M spokeswoman said: “This image has now been removed from all our channels and we apologise to anyone this may have offended.”