Supermodel Bella Hadid posted an apology to her Arab followers across her social media feeds on Monday after the Palestinian-American’s Sunday Instagram story sparked outrage.
A since-disappeared Instagram story showed Hadid’s shoe facing a row of planes, including planes from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt along with the caption “anotha one.” Showing the sole of your shoe is an insult in Arab culture, and the photo has also been perceived as showing Hadid kicking the planes.
#بيلا_حديد#BellaHadid @Dior
Dears,
KSA & UAE loves your luxurious brand, the best fashion and high quality
Your model @bellahadid was disrespectful to us and she posted racist pic in her account.
Could you please take action? Treat Loyal Customers as Well as You Do New Ones pic.twitter.com/w9Xa2r25pO— hani, (@__h2ss) June 17, 2019
Twitter users said they were insulted. Soon enough the hashtag #BellaHadidIsRacist starting trending.
Hadid subsequently deleted the image, instead uploading a lengthy apology in both English and Arabic to her social media channels, expressing that her actions had “nothing to do with politics”.
— Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) June 17, 2019
this was an honest mistake on an early morning… never, ever would I intentionally try to offend anyone like that. I am so sorry ..❤️
— Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) June 17, 2019
— Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) June 17, 2019