Adidas pulls Bella Hadid sneaker ads after Israel backlash
Adidas said Friday it was “revising” an ad campaign that tapped Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid to promote a vintage shoe to honor the 1972 Munich Olympics — the site of a historic massacre of Israelis.
The German sneaker giant partnered with Hadid to promote its classic SL72 shoe, which was first released for the Munich Olympics – where a Palestinian militant group took hostage and killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches as well as a German police officer.
“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,” an Adidas spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
The Israeli government took to X Thursday afternoon to slam Hadid’s involvement with the campaign since the model “has a history of spreading antisemitism and calling for violence against Israelis and Jews.”
“She and her father frequently promote blood libels and antisemitic conspiracies against Jews,” the Israeli government said in a post.
The American Jewish Committee also denounced the campaign and questioned how Adidas could have possibly overlooked the connection to the massacre.
“For Adidas to pick a vocal anti-Israel model to recall this dark Olympics is either a massive oversight or intentionally inflammatory,” the committee posted on X. “Neither is acceptable.”
Though Adidas did not specify the extent of its “revisions,” it appears as if Hadid has been pulled from the campaign altogether as the company has taken down ads showing Hadid promoting the shoe.
Hadid and her supermodel sister Gigi Hadid have faced criticism for supporting pro-Palestinian efforts since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Hadid wore a keffiyeh dress – made of traditional Arab headdress fabric – to the Cannes Film Festival in May.
She also wore a keffiyeh dress when she joined a pro-Palestinian march in 2021, after posting on Instagram: “I love my family, I love my Heritage, I love Palestine I will stand strong to keep their hope for a better land in my heart. A better world for our people and the people around them. They can never erase our history. History is history!”
In June, it was reported that the model sisters planned to donate $1 million to support Palestinian relief efforts. Some of the cash was allegedly set for the UN’s embattled refugee aid agency, which fired some of its employees after they were linked to Hamas.
In March, the Hadids’ father, Palestinian-born real estate tycoon Mohamed Hadid, called President Joe Biden a “Zionist criminal” and claimed that he and others would be “hunted down” like Nazis.
He also sent a barrage of racist and homophobic messages to Rep. Ritchie Torres, according to screenshots obtained by The Post.
Adidas’ removal of the campaign photos fired up pro-Palestinians on social media. Some called for an Adidas boycott and accused the shoe company of racism over suspicions it has fired the half-Palestinian model.
“Adidas just canceled Bella Hadid’s modelling contract because she’s Palestinian,” one user wrote, receiving 10,000 likes. “#Adidas is racist, #BoycottAdidas.”
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