
Palestinian-American supermodel Bella Had > 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, as well as one plane from Saudi Arabia and one from the United Arab Emirates, along with the caption
“anotha one.” Showing the
sole of your shoe is an
insult in Arab culture, and
the the} photo has
also been perceived as showing Hadid kicking the planes.
In her apology, Hadid wrote “The photo of my shoe on my Story
yesterday had NOTHING to do with
politics.”
In angry comments across social media on Hadid
and her family’s accounts, especially on
Instagram, thousands of users have spammed shoe emojis, flag emojis for
Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and green heart emojis. Many comments seem to be either social media
bots or copy-and-pasted sentences and phrases accusing Hadid of insulting Arab countries that have donated to and defended
Palestine.
These comments reference Hadid’s political
support of Palestine. Both Hadid
sisters have been criticized in the past for their comments concerning their Middle Eastern heritage and
Muslim religion, along with their appearances on
magazine covers like Vogue Arabia.
On Twitter, some anger has been directed toward
brands that work with
Hadid, together with Dior and Versace, with users threatening to
boycott merchandise.
Others suggest that
Hadid believes Saudi Arabia and the UAE are to blame for the Sudan
crisis, which Hadid
has spoken out against on Instagram.
In her apology, Hadid also wrote “I have never and will never be the one to talk down on these
countries. Only to spread love, and the true beauty of them, because the way I was taught by
my Teta and my father.”
In a follow-up tweet, Hadid wrote “this
was an honest mistake
on an early morning. Never, ever would I intentionally try to offend
anyone like that. I’m so sorry …”