The international retail chain H&M has received enormous backlash since the company ran an ad featuring a black child wearing a sweatshirt that said “coolest monkey in the jungle” on the front of it. In the fallout of the PR disaster, The Weeknd and other celebrities have severed ties with the brand over its racial offensiveness.
But in a bizarre twist to the already sensational story, Logan Paul, the YouTuber that decided to film and post a video of the dead body of a Japanese suicide victim, while laughing, had apparently been one of H&M’s brand consultants.
Well, that no longer appears to be the case. After pulling the sweatshirt from its product lines globally, H&M announced that will not be “working” with Logan Paul anymore. Given the timing of the announcement, it seems likely that Paul had something to do with the poor judgment that led to the monkey hoodie decision to begin with.
What remains unclear is whether or not Paul was entirely behind the hoodie, or if he’s being used as a scapegoat. Now many are questioning why the retail chain did not sever ties with him immediately after the infamous YouTube video.
H&M, which started in Sweden, stated in their apology that they had been letting a “very influential American millennial” consult them on millennial tastes in the United States, and that “we should have used our better judgment.” Again, it seems safe to assume “the influential American millennial” is referring to Paul.
