L’Oreal Model Steps Down Over Anti-Israel Tweets
The first model to appear in a haircare ad while wearing a hijab announced on Monday that she was withdrawing from L’Oreal’s ad campaign after she received criticism for a series of anti-Israel statements she made on Twitter.
“I deeply regret the content of the tweets I made in 2014, and sincerely apologize for the upset and hurt that they have caused,” Amena Khan wrote on her social media platforms. “Championing diversity is one of my passions, I don’t discriminate against anyone. I have chosen to delete them as they do not represent the message of harmony that I stand for.”
Some of the tweets, which were sent during the 2014 war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, called Israel an “illegal state,” claimed the country is full of “child murderers” and accused the country of “Torture. Murder. Rape. Genocide.”
“I recently took part in a campaign, which excited me because it celebrated inclusivity,” she added. “With deep regret, I’ve decided to step down from this campaign because the current conversations surrounding it detract from the positive and inclusive sentiment that it set out to deliver.”
“L’Oreal Paris is committed to tolerance and respect towards all people. We agree with her decision to step down from the campaign,” the cosmetics company told the BBC.
The L’Oreal affair came days after cosmetics competitor Revlon found itself in a similar controversy, as Palestinian-American activist Amani al-Khatahtbeh turned down an award from the company because of its ties to Israeli actress Gal Gadot. A survey of al-Khatahtbeh’s history found that she had released a video claiming that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were an inside job, and had published articles criticizing the Jewish campus group Hillel for its “Jewish nature” and approvingly citing anti-Semitic white supremacists.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO