Bella Hadid: "I did not know"

Source: © Daily Jang Bella Hadid posted a long post on Instagram giving her version of the recent controversy surrounding the Adidas SL 72 campaign

Adidas sparked controversy with the campaign as Hadid is part-Palestinian and has pro-Palestain beliefs that she has posted on social media.

In addition, the shoe itself is from the ill-fated Munich Olympics, which saw terrorists attack and kill 11 Israeli athletes.

As momentum against the campaign gained traction, the brand let Hadid go from the campaign.

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She has now engaged attorneys, but in her statement she says: "I am shocked, I am upset, and I am disappointed in the lack of sensitivity that went into this campaign”, claiming that she did not know of the 1972 Olympics’ history regarding Israel.

Hadid says she had no knowledge of the historical connection between the '72 Olympics and the Adidas shoe and would not have been part of the campaign if she had known.

While she does say that she expected her team or/and Adidas to have known, she admits that she could have done her own research.

In her statement she says, "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."

She also says she will “forever stand by my people of Palestine while continuing to advocate for a world free of anti-semitism. I am a proud Palestinian woman and there is so much more to our culture than the things that have been equated over the past week”.

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