Lululemon has issued an apology after one of its employees promoted a “bat fried rice” T-shirt on Instagram.
On Sunday, the athleisure company’s then-global art director Trevor Fleming shared a link to a $60 T-shirt created by California artist Jess Sluder that depicted a Chinese takeout container with bat wings emerging from its sides and “no thank you” written on the sleeve.
“Where did Covid-19 come from?” Sluder captioned a post about the shirt, which has since been deleted. “Nothing is certain but we know a bat was involved. Beginning today my limited edition #quarantees are now available!
“Thank you for your support and sense of humour!”
The post was immediately met with backlash, with many accusing Fleming of racism for promoting the shirt.
“Disgusting and appalling,” one person tweeted in response to a screenshot of Fleming’s Instagram bio.
Another said: “Seriously? This is disgusting.”
In response to the criticism, Lululemon released a statement in which it apologised for the “inappropriate” shirt, and said that Fleming was no longer working for the company.
“At Lululemon, our culture and values are core to who we are, and we take matters like this extremely seriously," a Lululemon spokesperson told The Independent. "We apologise that an employee was affiliated with promoting an offensive T-shirt… The image and the post were inappropriate and inexcusable and we do not tolerate this behaviour."
The brand also said that it had acted “immediately” when the matter was brought to its attention and that the T-shirt was not a Lululemon product.
On the brand’s Instagram, which was flooded with comments criticising the company, Lululemon again apologised, responding to one customer: “Please know that at Lululemon, our values are core to who we are. We take matters such as this extremely seriously and have no tolerance for cultural insensitivity and discrimination.”
“The employee involved is no longer with the company.”
After deleting the link, Fleming also apologised for the T-shirt, before stating that he did “not participate in any part of its creation,” according to NBC News.
He has since deleted his Instagram.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, there have been numerous reports of racially motivated verbal and physical attacks on Asian Americans.
