Dolce & Gabbana on Wednesday
called off a Shanghai show amid a row over its social-media
campaign showing a model using chopsticks to eat pizza, which
Chinese Web users have slammed as racist and sexist, and
allegedly derogatory comments about China from Stefano Gabbana.
D&G cancelled the highly awaited show-event at Shanghai's
Expo Centre after the topic got more than 120 million hits on
China's version of Twitter, Weibo, including criticism from
Memories of a Geisha star Zhang Ziyi.
Gabbana was quoted as describing China as a "foul-smelling,
dirty and ignorant mafia" in comments he said were posted by
someone who hacked his account.
The controversy arose after a video posted on the Italian
fashion brand's page on the Chinese social media site Weibo on
Monday showed a Chinese model attempting to use chopsticks to
eat a pizza, a cannoli and spaghetti.
Weibo users accused the label of trivialising the country's
culture and depicting Chinese women in a racist way. The video
was taken down within 24 hours but it had already been shared
widely on social media, where the hashtag #BoycottDolce began to
circulate.
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