A Russian designer has come under fire after using a racial slur in a note during Paris Couture Week.
Ulyana Sergeenko sent a bouquet of flowers to her fashion entrepreneur pal Miroslava (Mira) Duma, with a handwritten note reading: ‘To my n*****s in Paris’.
Miroslava later shared a picture of the note on her Instagram Stories, alongside a heart emoji.
And while the phrase might be a lyric from the Kanye West and Jay Z hit, people kicked off – including Naomi Campbell.
‘This better not be real,’ the supermodel wrote, sharing the photo.
And fashion photographer Ed Kavishe was similarly riled, adding: ‘What planet would you think this was acceptable language and behaviour? You don’t get to use these words ever’.
Unsurprisingly, Ulyana has defended herself by saying that Kanye West is one of her favourite artists and claims to be racially colour blind (spoiler alert: not a defence).
‘I was born in a small town in East Kazakhstan, my daughter is half Armenian, I have never divided people or white or black.
She says that N****s in Paris is one of her favourite tunes.
‘And yes, we call each other the N word sometimes when we want to believe we are just as these guys who sing it.’
Suffice to say, no one’s buying it.
So Lena Dunham definitely wrote ulyana’s apology letter! Of course she’s not Racist, Kanye West is her favorite musician!!!
pic.twitter.com/UfJoy9X7jc
— bryanboy (@bryanboy) January 23, 2018
The social media editor at Teen Vogue, Callia A. Hargrove took to Twitter to say: ‘To see Mira post something on IG so casually using this racial slur, and then have Ulyana defend the usage with such a bs excuse makes my blood boil’.
This DISGUSTS me. To see Mira post something on IG so casually using this racial slur, and then have Ulyana defend the usage with such a bs excuse makes my blood boil. So tired of “fashion girls” thinking that listening to one rap song gives them the right. pic.twitter.com/P5XHVnNXaX
— Callia A. Hargrove (@calliarmelle) January 23, 2018
And to make matters even worse, homophobic and transphobic comments made by Mira back in 2012 have been dug up, in which she cusses blogger Bryan boy and trans model Andrej Pejic.
Mira was on the board of a Dallas-based parenting brand, The Tot, which she co-founded.
Since these revelations, however, she’s been removed.
‘We at The Tot are deeply shocked by the offensive and racist post shared last night by Miroslava Duma during Paris Fashion Week,’ the brand posted on Instagram.
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‘In no way do those actions or statements reflect the values of The Tot. Cultural reference or not, racism in any form is unacceptable, regardless of whether it’s accidental or unintentional.
‘Words are powerful and we know those words hurt. Effective immediately, we have removed Miroslava Duma from the board of our company.’
Proof that what’s funny in White Chicks isn’t that LOL in real life.
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