The SL72 trainers, described by Adidas as a timeless classic, were promoted by Hadid, an American whose family has its roots in Palestine.
The model, who previously drew the ire of the Israeli government for allegedly chanting the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, has been accused of antisemitism.
Israel’s official account on X said it objected to Hadid as “the face of [the Adidas] campaign” in a post that noted that “eleven Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the Munich Olympics”.
Adidas said in a statement that the campaign for the SL72 shoe “unites a broad range of partners”. It said: “We are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events – though these are completely unintentional – and we apologise for any upset or distress caused.
Members of the Palestinian group Black September broke into the Olympic village on 5 September 1972. Eleven members of the Israeli team were taken hostage and killed.
Why is ADIDAS letting murderous regimes gaslight them?
I mean… It’s original founders were both members of the Nazi party. Their own history on their site doesn’t mention it but it’s true none the less. This is really just a knee-jerk reaction to seem non-antisemitic because they failed to drop Kanye West for being openly antisemitic for months.
Doesn’t seem reasonable or fair but here we are.
For those who just read the blurb and were wondering why an Olympics 50 years ago mattered to these shoes - they were originally launched for the Munich Olympics.
I’m all for protesting but that’s just in bad taste.
What exactly? The slogan itself is not so easy to pinpoint:
No I don’t care for the slogan. I misread the situation and thought she purposefully referenced the massacre at the olympics. Seems like it wasn’t intentional.
All good, I was genuinely confused if I had misjudged the situation.
completely unintentional? what else could they be referencing about the 72 munich olympics?
