Chinese celebs boycott D&G amid racism scandal

23 Nov – A string of Chinese celebrities have recently stated that they are boycotting Dolce & Gabbana over the luxury brand's latest ad campaign and insulting comments allegedly made via co-founder Stefano Gabbana's Instagram that he has now denied posting.

As reported on Mingpao, the fashion company recently released its #DGLovesChina campaign, which was universally panned and accused of racism. The campaign features a Chinese woman eating several Italian dishes using chopsticks, including a piece of pizza and a plate of pasta. The video is also accompanied by the sound of the Chinese instrument, erhu.

While netizens were still reeling from the tone-deaf ad, several screengrabs of a supposed conversation between Instagram user and Stefano Gabbana made its rounds on the internet, in which every single racist thing about China one can think of - from calling it a "s***" country, and claiming Chinese people eat dogs -was seen.

D&G had since published an apology, as well as a statement saying that both the designer and the D&G account was hacked.

However, despite D&G's apology, many Chinese stars are saying "no" to the brand and had refused to attend its fashion show in Shanghai.

Stars like Zhang Ziyi, Huang Xiaoming, Li Bingbing, and Chen Kun, who were scheduled to attend, decided to boycott the event.

Zhang stressed that she would never buy and use D&G products, while Huang Xiaoming wrote online that he will always put China first above all else.

On the other hand, D&G Asia Pacific brand ambassadors Dilraba Dilmurat and Wang Junkai (Karry Wang) recently announced that they are terminating their contract with the brand, with the latter stressing that his mother country is more important than anything.

(Photo Source: ABC.net.au)