Adidas has apologized for “any upset or distress caused,” after releasing an ad campaign for some retro sneakers based on a model first released during the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Munich Olympics are infamous as the event in which 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and murdered by the Palestinian terror group known as “Black September.”
The controversy centered around the German sportswear company’s choice of model Bella Hadid to front the campaign. Hadid, who was born in 1996, is Palestinian-American and has been a prominent advocate for Palestinian relief efforts. Adidas then seemingly deleted any social media posts featuring her after criticism from Jewish groups and Israel.
Adidas’ decision to remove Hadid from its social media feeds was then, in turn, criticized by pro-Palestinian voices for silencing people of Palestinian heritage, and for appearing to retaliate against Hadid on the basis of her heritage.
CNN cannot independently verify Adidas’ posts but screenshots of them have been widely circulated, including by the state of Israel’s official X account, while a picture of Hadid remains on Adidas’ website promoting the sneakers. Hadid’s representatives have not yet responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Hadid hasn’t publicly commented about the controversy on her social media accounts, though she recently posted a photo of herself – uncaptioned – standing in front of an Adidas billboard, wearing one of the sportswear manufacturer’s tops.
“We are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events – though these are completely unintentional – and we apologize for any upset or distress caused,” a spokesperson for Adidas said in a statement sent to CNN on Friday.
“As a result we are revising the remainder of the campaign. We believe in sport as a unifying force around the world and will continue our efforts to champion diversity and equality in everything we do,” the company added.
Hadid, whose father is Palestinian-American real-estate developer Mohamed Hadid, has frequently spoken out about violence against Palestinians and the ongoing war in Gaza.
In October last year, Bella Hadid wrote in a statement posted to Instagram: “My heart is bleeding with pain from the trauma I am seeing unfold, as well as the generational trauma of my Palestinian blood,” referencing those killed by Israeli airstrikes and military operations in Gaza – now more than 38,000 people in total, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.
“I mourn for the Israeli families that have been dealing with the pain and aftermath of October 7,” she added, referencing the day when Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 people hostage.
For the American Jewish Committee, choosing a “vocal anti-Israel model to recall this dark Olympics is either a massive oversight or intentionally inflammatory.”
“Neither is acceptable,” it added in a post on X. The group did not provide evidence or detail for its allegation that Hadid was “anti-Israel.”
However, journalist Mehdi Hasan took issue with this line of criticism against Adidas and Hadid.
“Bella Hadid has absolutely nothing in common with the 1972 terrorists – other than the fact that she is Palestinian,” Hasan posted on X.
“Blaming people for the crimes of others who share their race or ethnicity is pure racism & bigotry,” he added.
When contacted by CNN to respond to this critique, an AJC spokesperson said its “criticism of Adidas making Bella Hadid one of the faces of this campaign has nothing to do with her ethnicity but her history of anti-Israel and antisemitic comments,” without providing evidence for these allegations.
The Adidas controversy comes a week before the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics.
