G-Eazy Cuts Ties With H&M Following Offensive Ad

H&M has come under fire this week as the result of an offensive ad that many believe was racist. R&B powerhouse The Weeknd immediately cut ties with the retail chain and now, G-Eazy is following suit.

The hitmaker’s collaborative clothing line with the retail giant was supposed to debut on March 1 but according to his recent Instagram post, the “No Limit” rapper has ended his business relationship with the company.

Over the past months I was genuinely excited about launching my upcoming line and collaboration with @HM… Unfortunately, after seeing the disturbing image yesterday, my excitement over our global campaign quickly evaporated, and I've decided at this time our partnership needs to end. Whether an oblivious oversight or not, it's truly sad and disturbing that in 2018, something so racially and culturally insensitive could pass by the eyes of so many (stylist, photographer, creative and marketing teams) and be deemed acceptable. I can't allow for my name and brand to be associated with a company that could let this happen. I hope that this situation will serve as the wake up call that H&M and other companies need to get on track and become racially and culturally aware, as well as more diverse at every level.

A post shared by G-Eazy (@g_eazy) on Jan 9, 2018 at 3:12pm PST

“Over the past months I was genuinely excited about launching my upcoming line and collaboration with H&M,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, after seeing the disturbing image yesterday, my excitement over our global campaign quickly evaporated … I’ve decided at this time our partnership needs to end.

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“It’s truly sad and disturbing that in 2018, something so racially and culturally insensitive could pass by the eyes of so many,” he continued. “I can’t allow for my name and brand to be associated with a company that could let this happen.”

G-Eazy appeared in GQ in December to discuss the upcoming clothing line.

“The best collaborations happen when both sides [really] play to their strengths,” he said about Andreas Löwenstam, H&M’s men’s head of design. “We both wanted to make sure it was tasteful and felt like it was of good quality. We just chiseled away at the ideas until we had an edit that we were both totally happy with.”

woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. i’m deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore… pic.twitter.com/P3023iYzAb

— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) January 8, 2018

After the Weeknd appeared to cut ties via Twitter, the company issued the following response:

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“We completely understand and agree with his reaction to the image. We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print. We have removed the image from all our channels and the sweater is no longer for sale in our stores. We will also look into our internal routines to avoid such situations in the future. We will continue the discussion with The Weeknd and his team separately.”