If you haven’t heard already, Twitter blew up in outrage yesterday after a screenshot surfaced of a racial slur featured on a listing on Walmart’s website. The product in question was a wig cap produced by Jagazi Naturals, which listed the item’s color as “N***er Brown”.
Twitter users immediately began calling out Walmart for negligence.
Oh @Walmart, why is this on your website? So far past unacceptable. Wow. h/t @Travon pic.twitter.com/CLi62f4E5y
— roxane gay (@rgay) July 17, 2017
@Walmart so it’s okay for you guys to have items on your website with racial slurs in their names?? https://t.co/kZVhNhharB
— Dafra Sanou (@dafrasanou) July 17, 2017
Walmart has since taken the post down and released a statement of apology, adding that an investigation is under way “to determine how this could have happened.”
We agree this is appalling. pic.twitter.com/piW3uqFnJB
— Walmart (@Walmart) July 17, 2017
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t Jagazi Naturals who created the offensive listing. The brand posted a statement on its website saying, “The real JAGAZI is a 100% black company for black people. People have often used our brand name to try and sell their products. Please be aware. Very sorry for all the distress this has caused. We are feeling the pain here as well.”
The question remains: who did this? It’s understandable that a gargantuan company dealing with several third parties may sometimes get slack in regards to oversight, but we must ask more from a brand who’s very slogan is “Live Better.”