Bella Hadid has apologized after facing a backlash over her post on Instagram that some deemed was rude to United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
It all started after the 22-year-old Victoria’s Secret model made an Instagram Story on the site Sunday which showed a snap of her foot facing several planes, one a Saudi plane and one a UAE plane, according Tuesday to CNN.
She captioned it, “anotha one.” (SLIDESHOW: 142 Times Josephine Skriver Barely Wore Anything)
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Some people saw the picture as showing her kicking the flags that were painted on the back of the planes’ tails, and the hashtag “#BellaHadidIsRacicst” soon began trending on Twitter. (SLIDESHOW: These Women On Instagram Hate Wearing Clothes)
Shame on you #BellaHadidIsRacist pic.twitter.com/qbNVYd0uN0
— فارس التركي (@farooi) June 17, 2019
Late Monday, Hadid apologized in a lengthy statement on social media and called it an “honest mistake.”
“I would never want my posts or platform to be used for hate against anyone, especially those of my own beautiful & powerful heritage,” the lingerie model tweeted. “I love and care so much about the Muslim and Arab side of my family as well as my brothers and sisters throughout the world.”
“I want to send a sincere apology to those who ever thought I would put blame on them, especially to Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” she added.
— Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) June 17, 2019
“This was an honest mistake on an early morning… never, ever would I intentionally try to offend anyone like that. I am so sorry,” she continued in a second post.
this was an honest mistake on an early morning… never, ever would I intentionally try to offend anyone like that. I am so sorry ..
— Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) June 17, 2019
The supermodel was born in America. Her mother is Dutch and her father is Palestinian.