Bella Hadid is speaking out on the big controversy surrounding her Adidas ad campaign for a Munich Olympics shoe and she says she didn’t do her homework.
The model reacted to the backlash from last week in a lengthy statement posted on social media Monday, saying she had no clue the 1972 Munich Olympics included a famous tragedy where 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and murdered by Palestinian terrorists.
Bella Hadid explains she had no knowledge of the historical connection between the ’72 Olympics and the Adidas shoe, adding … “I am shocked, I am upset, and I am disappointed in the lack of sensitivity that went into this campaign.”
What’s more, Bella Hadid says she never would have participated in the ad campaign if she had known about the Munich Massacre … and she says her team or Adidas should have known. She admits … she should have done her own research too.
Bella Hadid adds … “While everyone’s intentions were to make something positive, and bring people together through art, the collective lack of understanding from all parties undermined the process.”
Adidas caught a ton of heat for using Bella as the face of the retro sneaker, with the American Jewish Committee saying the shoe giant made an “egregious error” by picking “a vocal anti-Israel model to recall this dark Olympics.”
Bella says she doesn’t believe in hate in any form, including antisemitism, and adds … “Palestine is not synonymous with terrorism and this campaign unintentionally highlighted an event that does not represent who we are.”
Despite a couple apologies from Adidas, Bella is lawyering up to look into potentially taking action against the company … and now she’s explaining her side of the story to boot.