Terry Mango, the mother of the boy who modeled the controversial ‘Coolest Monkey in the Jungle’ sweatshirt for H&M, is clapping back at critics. She recently spoke up against the celebrities who canceled their H&M contracts, and the social media users who openly criticized H&M over the image.
In a series of Facebook messages, which she screenshotted and shared, the mother says, “I’m the mum, and this is one of the hundreds of outfits my son has modeled. Stop crying wolf all the time, unnecessary issue here. Get over it. I’ve been to all photo shoots and this was not an exception, everyone is entitled to their opinion about this.”
“If I bought that jumper and put it on him and posted it on my pages, would that make me racist,” she continued. “I get people’s opinion, but they are not mine. I really don’t understand but not cuz I’m choosing not to but because it’s not my way of thinking, sorry.”
Mango is currently living in Stockholm, Sweeden, but originates from Nairobi, Kenya. Pictures of her son posted in December and a couple of baby pics are on her Facebook page.
H&M issued an apology on Monday stating they were “deeply sorry” about the advertisemtn. They removed it from every one of their platforms and pulled the sweatshirt from store shelves to recycle the material.
They sent out a second apology on their UK website, apologizing for having used an African-American child to model their sweatshirt. In a statement H&M further clarified:
“We agree with all the criticism that this has generated – we have got this wrong and we agree that, even if unintentional, passive or casual racism needs to be eradicated wherever it exists. We appreciate the support of those who have seen that our product and promotion were not intended to cause offense but, as a global brand, we have a responsibility to be aware.”
Terry mango later deleted the series of Facebook posts, though she still does not believe the ad was racially insensitive.
This article was inspired by NY DAILY NEWS // Mother of black child in H&M ad reportedly says critics are ‘crying wolf’