High end British fashion label Burberry had an oopsie moment recently. The brand was euphoric at British-Indian actor, Dev Patel winning a BAFTA for his supporting role in the movie, Lion. They tweeted and congratulated the actor on the win. However, the picture they chose to show was not of Dev but that of Star Wars Rogue One star, Riz Ahmed who is of Pakistani descent.
Twitter was quick to this and had a field day. The tweet was soon removed by the brand but, the damage was done. People commented on the underlying racism in the mistake committed.
Burberry just confused @RizMC for Dev Patel because all brown people look the same? This is why we need to diversify our media. pic.twitter.com/d4iIITHNdo
— Simran Jeet Singh (@SikhProf) February 13, 2017
Someone should inform @Burberry that this is not #devpatel … It's @rizmc … ? pic.twitter.com/zfgKAdlEr9
— Preeya Kalidas (@PREEYAKALIDAS) February 13, 2017
Dear @Burberry
All asian men look the same now?#RIZAHMED #DevPatel pic.twitter.com/2uGNlTgvYH— Jasmine Dotiwala (@jasminedotiwala) February 13, 2017
Burberry later tweeted the right pictures with both the actors sporting their brands at the BAFTA award ceremony.
Celebrating the #EEBAFTAs in London this evening, Best Actor in a Supporting Role Winner #DevPatel wears a @Burberry custom made navy tuxedo pic.twitter.com/pj6Fwy8XCm
— Burberry (@Burberry) February 12, 2017
Actor @rizmc wearing a grey mohair tuxedo on the #EEBAFTA red carpet at the @RoyalAlbertHall this evening pic.twitter.com/SMzuKaLDNi
— Burberry (@Burberry) February 12, 2017
Burberry issued an apology that featured in The Wrap. The statement read, “We apologise unreservedly for the incorrectly titled pictures of Dev Patel and Riz Ahmed posted late last night. This was a mistake that should not have happened and was corrected immediately. We have apologised directly to Dev and Riz. We are checking our processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
While Dev Patel grabbed the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in Lion, Riz Ahmed won the Golden Globe for his performace in the HBO series, The Night Of.
Picture Credits: Twitter, Hindustan Times
