In 1996, I heard that Tommy Hilfiger said that he didn’t make his clothes for black people. I admired Hilfiger’s clothing, but there was no way I was going to purchase another piece, if indeed, he was going around making racist comments.
So, I didn’t.
Four years later, Spike Lee’s satirical film, Bamboozled, criticized America’s race relations. In it, Lee also ridiculed America’s fascination with brand-named fashion and alluded to Hilfiger’s alleged racism, with a parody he called Timmy Hilnigger.
As an avid Spike Lee fan, I was amused. I thought it was clever, and I was happy to be on the “right” side of an issue. My position remained, and I didn’t buy any more Hilfiger clothing.
That is until Saturday, September 14, 2019.
On that weekend, I was looking for something appropriate to wear to a tea that I’d been invited to. The host was going to wear a dress, and according to Google, I should too. I ended up at TJ Maxx because I had no intention on spending a bunch of money on clothes I may or may not ever wear again.
After several minutes, I found a cute, classic navy blue and white dress. The only issue is it was by Tommy Hilfiger! Yes. Twenty-three years later, I was still holding out on my Hilfiger ban. But I tried it on anyway because like I said, it was cute.
It looked even more fabulous on, and I had no hesitation. I was buying this $40 dress, racist Hilfiger or not.
The next day, I showed Dwight, who also agreed it was nice.
“Too bad I’ll be wearing clothes by a racist,” I said. “I’m choosing to exert my willful ignorance for fashion.”
Dwight pushed back a little and wondered what Hilfiger had actually said decades ago. His point was nowadays, people take things out of context, so how did it come about that Hilfiger allegedly said he didn’t make clothes for black people?
Unlike 20 years ago, this time I could Google it. That’s when I found this: Did Oprah Winfrey Throw Tommy Hilfiger Off Her Show for Making a Racist Comment?
And this, Tommy Hilfiger Addresses those Racist Rumors from 1996 One More Time.
And finally, this, The Racism Scandal that Rocked Tommy Hilfiger.
In case you don’t have time to read these, here’s what I found out. Tommy Hilfiger never said those words, ever.
<sigh>
This revelation is a little more than disturbing. I can’t imagine having built a company, with a primary goal of being the best in my field, having succeeded in that goal, and then having an untraceable rumor ruin my reputation and decrease sales.
What’s equally disturbing is how quickly we will stop supporting businesses with little to no facts. It’s called cancel culture. While I’m not opposed to boycotting businesses with verified questionable practices or opinions and morals not aligned with what I believe, I am opposed to canceling a company or brand simply because of a rumor.
After this incident, it’s clear that I have to do better. But I’m starting to believe we all do.
*And oh! Welcome to my new category…#TBT Thoughts 😉
Wow! Great story! How many times might I have done the same thing — banned someone for vicious remarks that turn out to be taken out of context or misreported. You are so right about cancel culture. I agree that we should boycott racist or other nefarious businesses, but we need to be sure first. IF we spent more time giving each other the benefit of the doubt, looking for and pulling out the good in the people we meet, regardless of race, gender, etc., and less time scrutinizing them for real or imagined moral flaws, the world would be a better place.
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It was so crazy. His message and out and so did a message about Timberland boots which were both so prevalent in black culture. The Internet and rumors were no new back then. You could say anything and because people were used to newspapers being at least mostly credible, we believed it.
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You remember??? It was outrageous girl. And to think it could’ve ruined his career.
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Thanks for this post, Kathy. I agree that we all have to do better with our own vetting and fact-checking
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Hey Leslie! You’re welcome. It’s funny to me that we have so much access, but very little information literacy…maybe it’s too much access.
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Gorgeous! great subject – so difficult to even have the time to know what’s truth & what’s fiction…
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It really is! It’s like we have so much information, but so little time (or so it seems).
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I always think of Aaliyah when I think tommy hilfiger. I had never heard of the alleged statement. The only tommy i had was a vertical striped work shirt years ago. I think cancel culture has a place, as it highlights nothing is black and white and also calls out behaviours I think society is getting less tolerant of as awareness of issues of minorities become mainstream…but, it needs to be backed up with facts. Nowadays, as you’ve pointed out, there is no excuse to not fact check but people still don’t if ignorance fits their narrative, also there should be room for dialogue and growth of the ‘baddie’ and a chance of redemption. And yes, cute dress 😊
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It’s funny how we can associate things with popular culture. They said that’s how TH became popular…R&B and rappers.
As far as fact checking, what’s fascinating to me is that we have soooo much info, but soooo little time (seemingly), so we just jump on whatever (as you’ve said) fits our current narrative. We have to do better.
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Yeah I agree! Was just saying to a new friend who I caught up with this morning (in real life) that lately so many of my biases and assumptions are being turned upside down…I see that as a great thing but some people find that scary as it can shake the foundation of who you are…after all, our beliefs are only thoughts.
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…only thoughts!
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Thank you for bringing up such an important subject! I see memes and posts on Facebook all the time that are simply not true…and yet they are posted, and yet people make decisions to boycott or protest certain people and companies based on them. Like you, I have no problem when with boycotts or protests when those decisions are based on fact. But since it is very easy to spread rumors these days (thank you, social media!) I think we do need to be very careful to verify the information we’re getting.
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We absolutely do! There’s power in numbers, and there always has been, right? But now, the numbers are uninformed sometimes, so we end up enforcing a mob mentality on the undeserving…smh.
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Happy and relieved Hilfiger is in the clear now. Because that dress looks amazing on you and even more so knowing it is racism-free! ❤
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lol yes! But you see how quick I was to turn a “blind eye” in the name of fashion lol
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Yes, well… maybe it was female intuition after all 😉 We’re all just human, flaws lie in our nature. Don’t beat yourself up too much over it. If it bothers you, take it as a reminder for the future to handle it differently. If it’s not that big a deal, simply enjoy 😊
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Enjoyable read and thought provoking….
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Thank you Omo Ackin!
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Fabulous post
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Thank you!
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Please read my post
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Rumours can do so much damage. I’ve become even more vigilant in these age of dangerous memes, and some people sharing them abundantly without even bothering to find out about the source and what they mean exactly. I’m glad the rumour proved to be false, after all. Because you look absolutely gorgeous in that dress.
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Me, too Khaya! And I agree. We have to do so much better.
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Interesting. We think an era of ‘post-truth’ news is recent, of course it isn’t. I’d still note, however, all those ads from Hilfiger in the 90s/early noughties – rows of youthful faces and hardly a non-white one (the ones we saw in Europe, anyway).
The dress looks great by the way.
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So that part I agree with. I totally think that advertising used to be full of young, white faces.
And thank you 😊
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Once a while back I heard we weren’t supposed to wear Timberland boots cause the Tree was supposed to be about lynchings. I was too young at the time to care. I still wore them but I didn’t research it either. Later, I discovered the word Timberland means “land that is covered with trees and shrubs,” (i.e. the term, “Timber!” when a tree falls), so it kinda makes sense to have a tree as a logo.
Another rumor was about an entire poem written by Maya Angelou where she mentioned both rumors (the Tommy Hilfiger & Timberland) in a poem. The poem was to support the rumors talking about the clothes Blacks wear that are owned by racist white companies. I can’t remember the name of the poem but they later proved it false. Turns out the poem wasn’t even written by Angelou.
I think the moral of the story is for us to do our research, especially in the age of information. We live in an era of memes and I cannot tell you how many Black History ones I’ve seen that contain such false information.
Bamboozled is my movie tho. 😩 lol
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Girl.
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I remember that rumorI remember that rumor.. Like you I didn’t research it but I had a hard time believing that a designer, in business to make money, would say something like that to alienate a large group of consumers. I purchase his clothes often, especially those cute dresses sold in Tj Maxx and Marshals. BTW, I love the new category.
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Thank you girl!
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Wow, what an enlightening post, Katherin. At first, I thought maybe his comment was misconstrued. When he said he didn’t making clothing for black people, he was meaning that anyone could wear his clothes – he wasn’t assuming a certain style/look for them.
But to find out he was blacklisted wrongly is simply terrible. I am glad that you researched this and even happier that you bought the outfit. You look stunning!
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Thank you Judy! And yes. It’s unfortunate how much one can lose simply because of a rumor!
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Kate, you are really pretty in that cute dress. How sad that false rumours
and preconceived judgements can damage so much. Yet, it happens one way or
the other every day.
Your post is a call to be careful before accepting rumours as true.
Thank you
Miriam
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Thank you Miriam! Absolutely. This was 20 years ago, so I can’t imagine how famous people navigate today when falsehoods canal easily be spread.
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Oh wow! How devastating for TH. As an artist I would be crushed to put something out there and then get falsely labelled. Thanks for writing about this, I am going to be a lot more careful about what I ban, because I am definitely guilty of playing the cancel culture game! Its so important to do our research!
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I know right? It could be any of us. And you’re welcome. We all have to do better, I think.
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Wow! I am in disbelief! My mom definitely refused to buy me clothing after the alleged statement. Also, I proudly agreed that I shouldn’t wear his clothing items. Wow is all I can think! I agree we must do better! With that, I’m going to make the time to read the articles.
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Yeah it’s hard because we’re all on the go, and if I post something then you or other may find the likelihood of it being true to be better, when really we all must do our due diligence 😉
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