Italian Airline Forced To Apologize After Barack Obama Blackface Ad

Source: Christopher Sadowski / Splash News

Alitalia Airlines Apologizes After Ad Featuring Actor In Barack Obama Blackface

An Italian airline faced some much deserved backlash, considering they didn’t get the memo that blackface is uuuh….bad.

According to The New York Times, Alitalia airlines released an advertisement on social media this week that featured an actor donning blackface in order to play President Barack Obama. The ad was one of four Italian-language clips used to promote the airline’s recently announced nonstop flight from Rome to Washington. Other videos have actors portraying Trump, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln with the hashtag #WhereIsWashington.

The video quickly drew angry comments on Facebook and YouTube, mostly written in Italian. Comments on Facebook called the clip “outrageous” and many folks pointed out that blackface was “universally considered a racist practice.”

A representative for the airline initially defended the ad, saying that the actor portraying Obama wasn’t White and that “makeup was applied to highlight features.”

Eventually, the company came to their senses and issued an apology on Wednesday. They said they would remove the ad from all it’s social media platforms.

“Alitalia deeply apologizes for the offense caused by the promotional video on our Washington route,” they tweeted out. “It has since been removed. For our Company, respect for everyone is mandatory, it was never our intention to hurt anyone and we will learn from what has happened.”

Smh.

These brands will never learn.