Lululemon Apologizes After Art Director Advertises ‘Bat Fried Rice’ Shirt; Fires Employee

{snip}

On Sunday, Trevor Fleming, the senior global art director of Lululemon, shared a link on Instagram to the t-shirt design first shared by California artist Jess Sluder. (Fleming’s Instagram account has since been deleted.)

The design featured a Chinese take-out box decorated with bat wings and the words “no thank you” on the back. The shirt, titled “Bat Fried Rice,” was listed for purchase at $60 before it was taken down.

“At lululemon, our culture and values are core to who we are, and we take matters like this extremely seriously,” Lululemon spokesperson Erin Hankinson said in a statement to USA TODAY. “We apologize that an employee was affiliated with promoting an offensive t-shirt… The image and the post were inappropriate and inexcusable and we do not tolerate this behaviour.”

{snip}

There have been 100+ daily attacks on Asian Americans since the start of #COVID19. To see people adding to the hurt & racism hurts my heart. I hope someone picks up this story and these individuals take responsibility. I am more proud than ever to be part of the AA community. ✊🏼 pic.twitter.com/nWy9WJeMVE

— Kamauri Yeh (@yehwho) April 19, 2020

{snip}