Beyoncé’s collaboration with Adidas, Ivy Park, is facing backlash after a promotional photo sparked a debate on blackfishing.
On Tuesday, Ivy Park’s Instagram page shared a now-deleted image of two models wearing pieces from the new season. Upon first glance, the women look like two fair-skinned Black women. Fans quickly flooded the comments of the page and claimed that both are white Russian women posing as Black women.
Commenters alleged both models—identified as models named “Anastasia” and “Alena”—were “blackfishing,” a phenomenon that entails white women tanning or using makeup to appear to have some type of African-American ancestry.
In the image, one model wore a green two-piece bra and shorts. Her hair is styled in waist-length cornrows. The other model sported a big, curly Afro.
On her personal account, Alena said she became “terrified” after seeing the backlash to her image. She also said she didn’t “understand what’s wrong with being fascinated by this culture, their style, music, and dancing.”
Anastasia likewise made her own post to her personal account.
While Beyoncé is known to have a hands-on role with many of her projects, neither Beyoncé nor the official Ivy Park account responded to the backlash.
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