someone sent this my email ...


Oprah








I'm sure many of you watched the recent taping of the Oprah Winfrey
show
where her guest was Tommy Hilfiger. On the show, she asked him if the
statements about race he was accused of saying were true.

Statements like"..."If I'd known African-Americans, Hispanics, Jewish
and
Asians would buy my clothes, I would not have made them so nice. I
wish
these people would *NOT* buy my clothes, as they are made for upper
class
white people."

His answer to Oprah was a simple "YES". Where after she immediately
asked
him to leave her show.

My suggestion? Don't buy your next shirt or perfume from Tommy
Hilfiger.

Let's give him what he asked for. Let's not buy his clothes, let's put
him
in a financial state where he himself will not be able to afford the
ridiculous prices he puts on his clothes.



BOYCOTT. PLEASE SEND THIS MESSAGE TO ANYONE YOU KNOW

this has been around for yeeears, he said that chit way back when i wuz in junior high, about 6 or 7 years ago. 'sides, i dunno if anybody still rox his shit as it is.





tommy hilfucker edit
[This message was edited Sun Sep 21 12:45:11 PDT 2003 by Handclapsfingasnapz]

Is this really true? ... oh my

I refuse to buy "name brand" clothes anyway.
Besides Tommy Snotfinger's C.R.A.P. never appealed to me.
Hmmm...guess I'm not an upper-class white monkey...

i havent worn tommy hilfiger since 10th grade lisa...

this is untrue.


urban legend. it's been going around for years, and it's bullshit.


http://www.snopes.com

Blimey! As a working class white male, i'm feeling kinda aggrieved.

Hilfiger 'Racist' Rumor Is Fashionable Again

Urban Legend Continues to Dog Famed Fashion Designer



More of this Feature
• Part 2: Repent, Sinners!





Related Resources
• Celebrity Lore





Elsewhere on the Web
• Spread of Net Lies Spooks Large Organizations
• Tommy Rot





By David Emery

The topic of this week's sermon is the Ninth Commandment of Moses: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

Allow me to cast the first stone.

A whole lot of nice, earnest folks who surely don't consider themselves liars are using the Internet to spread a false and libelous rumor about fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.

It comes to them in the form of a forwarded email message. They read it, they either believe it to be true or don't care if it's true, and they pass it on to friends, associates and people they hardly even know with the click of a mouse button.

Knowingly or not, each one of these people thus becomes a link in a growing chain of lies.

Here's one version of the rumor:




Subject: FWD: Tommy Hilfiger hates us...
Did you see the recent Oprah Winfrey show on which Tommy Hilfiger was a guest? Oprah asked Hilfiger if his alleged statements about people of color were true - he's been accused of saying things such as "If I had known that African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians would buy my clothes, I would not have made them so nice," and "I wish those people would not buy my clothes - they were made for upper-class whites." What did he say when Oprah asked him if he said these things? He said "Yes." Oprah immediately asked Hilfiger to leave her show.

Now, let's give Hilfiger what he's asked for - let's not buy his clothes. Boycott! Please - pass this message along.



As I say, that's just one version – the sanitized, "politically correct" one, if you will. A more popular and impolite variant goes like this:




Subject: Did you see this show - Nov. 28th.
For those who missed the Oprah Winfrey show where she interviewed the fashion designer, he made a VERY RACIST remark regarding the people that purchase his clothing line... Summed up, he basically said that if he had known that so many chinamen and niggers were going to buy his clothes, he never would have made it so nice... After which, Oprah kindly asked him to leave. Now that we all know that he is a BIG TIME RACIST, my suggestion is that we and all of our friends should boycott the TOMMY HILFIGER line. I don't see any point in supporting someone who has such a narrow mind...

What a jerk this guy is! Yeah, if it weren't for us CHINAMEN and NIGGERS, does he think he can be where he is today???

Please forward this to everyone you know, he really does not deserve anyone's support at all.



All lies, from top to bottom. Hurtful and scandalous lies.

dammit what am I gon do with my bottle of tommy girl ?

I think Russell Simmons started this rumour, him or P diddy.

Now please boycott them and email this to a friend.
[This message was edited Sun Sep 21 12:49:17 PDT 2003 by magnificentsynthesizer667]

DigitalLisa said:

ain't shit you can do, really...

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I have an old bottle of CK1 we could have a old colonge fest.

if it's ture or if it ain't, why would people make clothes in america thinking only one race is gon buy it? What Tommy don't think it ain't upper class black people (sayin' if it's true) I heard the same thing about Ralph Lauren

no racism edit
[This message was edited Sun Sep 21 12:51:02 PDT 2003 by DigitalLisa]

DigitalLisa said:

Give it to a teenager, it'll be empty in a week, max

I know one thing if I was jewish I wouldn't be buying a volkswagon.

AaronMaximus said:

Thanks Aaron

DigitalLisa said:

Ralph Lauren but Donna Karen as well . I never paid much attention 2 it though,however. I did hear that was the main reason why the makers of fubu, made the fubu clothing line it for us by us (y'all know). Anyways I don't wear name brand clothing... I be like why do I want 2 wear somebody elses name on my back ?? I ain't trying 2 repsent nobody but me
[This message was edited Sun Sep 21 13:08:50 PDT 2003 by DigitalLisa]

DigitalLisa said:

i havent seen anyone with fubu since high school thats crazy talk!

Christopher said:

damn, almost forgot about fubu...yeah, that shit's been out for the longest as well.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

lol "no fear " tee shirts..

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

probably because they ended up saling their industry 2 tha man 4 cheap bucks every since then things never really been they same

Christopher said:

'big johnson' t-shirts, too...

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

haha,

smilely tees

Christopher said:

'blunt' t-shirts...and cross colours...lawd, thinkin about all this shit makes me feel like i'm 13 again...:1993:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

lol...

1993 does rock tho'

This e-mail is more played out than the man's clothes.

Tommy Hilfiger:



at his label and clothes...

This never happened, and this rumor was created YEARS ago! Since when did it become *pun intended* fashionable again?

I'd never wear his clothes anyway. My least favorite name brand it is.

What's ironic is that after this album was released Hilfiger's sales sky rocketed.



Hip Hop has a big influence on fashion.

are any of u old enough to remember the one about olivia newton-john telling johnny carson that she was "married" to a woman? supposedly coming out on the tonight show back in like 1983 or something.
turns out THAT was an urban legend as well.
what??? whaddaya mean "who's johnny carson??!!"get outta here...

I gotta give props to tommy hilfiger clothes tho, they last through washes. I pay bookoo bucks for nautica shirts and other crap, and I wash it once and its all shriveled up and faded. TH stuff is quality.

did anyone wonder why someone who is so unquestionably racist by this rumors implication would appear on the oprah show to begin with???

Tom said:

gotta agree there.


if you can get the stuff that doesn't have the logo plastered everywhere, and without all the gaudy colors, (ie, the stuff that *isn't* labelled "Tommy Jeans") then it's pretty good stuff, and a lot of it looks good.

DigitalLisa said:

These are urban legends. Even after people have stated this, you persist with your ignorance, using poor spelling too.

What an embarrassment to black people who struggle against real racism.

KoolAid said:

What up KoolAid

Hi Paisley!

KoolAid said:

AaronMaximus said:

It ALL looks awful.

KoolAid said:

did somebody 4get 2 put sugar in ur kool aid .....again

sugar edit
[This message was edited Sun Sep 21 23:01:23 PDT 2003 by DigitalLisa]

But, but when Dilliard's has a sale I then buy his clothes for dollars store prices

LOL...a friend sent me that same email several years ago.

TwIsTedMiNd still rocks Cross Colors

I don't know if this means anything, but I found this on the subject.



ADL Letter to Tommy Hilfiger


July 11, 2001

Mr. Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
c/o Tommy Hilfiger U.S.A., Inc.
25 West 39th Street
New York, NY 10016



Dear Mr. Hilfiger:

The Anti-Defamation League has received recurring inquiries regarding a number of defamatory rumors that have been spread on the Internet and by word-of-mouth in recent years about you and your company. Based upon our investigation, it is apparent to us that you never made the statements that attribute racist remarks to you. In some cases, the rumor alleges that you appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and made racist remarks, causing a supposedly irate Oprah to ask you to leave. We have concluded that these rumors are completely false, and it is apparent that you never made the statements attributed to you, nor did you appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

According to our information, these allegations about you and your company, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, began circulating through the Internet via e-mail in the United States in 1997, and have since continued to circulate by means of chat rooms, bulletin boards, faxes, e-mails, and word-of-mouth in the United States and elsewhere.

ADL has investigated the matter in response to the requests of constituents and other community members. We have concluded after careful investigation that the malicious rumors circulating about you and your company are without merit and lack any basis in fact.

We feel that it is important to be aware of the dangers of believing everything on the Internet and we intend to make these facts known to anyone inquiring about the subject.

Please feel free to use this letter and the ADL findings in any way you wish.

Sincerely,

Abraham H. Foxman National Director
Anti-Defamation League

DigitalLisa said:

u'r right by asking us 2 do this but at the same time do u think people'LL really do this?

i have a few things from him & u can't market a product nowadays & not have some1 buy it u may like or not like...

I won't be going there anymore, not for that racist pig.

again I say...don't always believe what you hear. (see above post.)

i heard about this about 6 years ago. from what i remember it was just a rumor because he didn't even go on the Oprah show, other ppl say it was on Rosie O'Donnell,, but if he did say that i don't understand why no one has ever had footage of it

Christopher said:

you should take a look in billysparxxx's closet

AaronMaximus said:

I'm addicted to snopes! It rocks!


Here's the explaination...


Claim: Designer Tommy Hilfiger shocked the world when he appeared on a television talk show and said, "If I knew that blacks and Asians were going to wear my clothes, I would have never designed them."

Status: False.

Origins: Rumors that Tommy Hilfiger made a racist remark exploded onto the Internet in the fall of 1996 after a news article purporting to be from a Philippines tabloid began making the online rounds. These self-same rumors had been in circulation at least nine months earlier, but the appearance of this article brought them to critical mass.

According to Cristina Peczon (author of the article), the revealing remark happened on CNN Style with Elsa Klensch, during an interview with both Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren on the latest fashion trends:


Hilfiger then supposedly butted in then with a comment, something like it is one thing for one's label to go popular worldwide, but there are some people who just don't look well in "their" designer clothes. Hilfiger then allegedly named several Asian races, apparently saying that he preferred if "these people" wouldn't wear their line — particularly Filipinos!
Though many were up in arms about this article (there were calls for a boycott of Hilfiger products), no one was ever quite sure what the designer had said, who he'd said it to, or even which ethnic group he'd slammed. One version had him saying, "If I knew that blacks and Asians were going to wear my clothes, I would have never designed them." More colorful renditions had him making his shocking revelation on national TV and Oprah Winfrey then throwing him off her show. (Oddly enough, the same story has been told about Liz Claiborne since 1991, that Oprah threw her off the show after Liz claimed she didn't design for Black women as "their hips are too big." That didn't happen either. See our Liz Biz page for more about that rumor, and the one that she gives part of the company's profits to the Church of Satan.)

A 1997 newspaper article debunking this tale noted:

In one cybermyth, Hilfiger supposedly told style reporter Elsa Klensch of CNN that he didn't think Asians looked good in his clothes. Then, as the story morphed, he told Winfrey the same thing about Blacks, at which point she threw him off the set.
Yet representatives of both shows deny Hilfiger ever appeared as a guest.

A 1999 article also carried denials from officials of the shows on which the incident is rumored to have taken place:

"Tommy Hilfiger has never appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show," said Audrey Pass, a spokeswoman for Winfrey. "Hilfiger's never appeared on CNN Style with Elsa Klensch," said Kathy Park of CNN.
Oprah herself did what she could to quell this slander. On Monday, 11 January 1999, she opened her show by adamantly denouncing the rumor, emphatically stating the following:


So I want to just set the record straight once and for all. The rumor claims that clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger came on this show and made racist remarks, and that I then kicked him out. I just want to say that is not true because it just never happened. Tommy Hilfiger has never appeared on this show. READ MY LIPS, TOMMY HILFIGER HAS NEVER APPEARED ON THIS SHOW. And all of [the] people who claim that they saw it, they heard it — it never happened. I've never even met Tommy Hilfiger.
Both Hilfiger and his company have steadfastly denied all forms of the rumor, and it has taken many. Depending on who you hear the whisper from, he slammed Asians, Filipinos or Blacks, on Oprah or Ricki Lake or BET News or Larry King Live or CNN — as a rumor, it's a marvel of non-specificity.


According to a company statement posted to the Internet in March 1997:

Tommy Hilfiger did not make the alleged inappropriate racial comments. [. . .] Hilfiger wants his clothing to be enjoyed by people of all backgrounds and his collections are put together with the broadest cross-section of individuals in mind. To reinforce this, he features models of all ethnic backgrounds in his fashion shows and advertisements.
The company has answered the charges leveled against Hilfiger in its corporate FAQ, which very clearly states that not only didn't he say what's been ascribed to him, he's also never been on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, or CNN's Style with Elsa Klensch.
Cyberdenials or not, the rumor has legs. Earlier I mentioned it had been around at least nine months prior to its Internet explosion in late 1996. A March 1995 newspaper article noted:


Then there's the infamous disparaging "statement" the Parsons brothers and several others said they had heard that Hilfiger made about Blacks, particularly poor Blacks, wearing his clothes.
As with all rumors, there are several variations, and no one can say where or when Hilfiger made the comments. One woman said a friend heard him say it on BET News. A clerk at Burdines said he heard it was on the Ricki Lake show.

Hilfiger's being cast as a racist villain is especially unfortunate because his history as a designer shows him to be anything but. Adding color and movement to everyday clothes, his designs shot into popularity fueled by enthusiastic support from the Black community which adopted his fashion statements as its own. When Snoop Doggy Dogg wore a red, white, and blue Hilfiger rugby shirt on Saturday Night Live in March 1994, the word went out: Tommygear was cool. That was the same year the National Conference of Christians and Jews bestowed its National Humanitarian Award on the young designer. In 1995 Hilfiger was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and from there he's gone nowhere but up.
As immediately satisfying as it is to believe the old Liz Claiborne tale has updated itself by attaching to a newer, fresher designer, there's another likely explanation that must also be considered. As Hilfiger's clothing became more and more popular, it increasingly became a target for the Pacific Basin knock-off specialists. Hilfiger's statements that people should foreswear Asian or Filipino bootlegs of his clothes because cheap copies don't look good on anybody could easily have been misheard or misunderstood so that they were later remembered as statements to the effect that Asians or Filipinos themselves should not wear Hilfiger designs as they would make his clothes look bad.

Barbara "generalization GAP" Mikkelson

Last updated: 12 February 2000


The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/racial/business/hilfiger.asp

Sources:
de Vos, Gail. Tales, Rumors and Gossip.
Englewood: Libraries Unlimited, 1996. ISBN 1-56308-190-3 (pp. 282-283).

Frederick, Lisa. "Urban Cool."
St. Petersburg Times. 1 March 1995 (p. D1).

Peczon, Cristina. "Eat Your Clothes, Mr. Racist Designer."
Isyu. 13 November 1996.

Pitts, Leonard. "Rumors Thrive on Electronic Grapevine."
The Buffalo News. 12 January 1999 (p. B3).

Stein, Jeannine. "When Rumors Are Clothed As Truth."
Los Angeles Times. 1 April 1997 (p. E1).

YOU CANNOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ...

well, my opinion is: no! you cant believe everything you read or hear...but i do know this, ive NEVER been a big fan of BIG LABELS anyway, (haveing names all across your chest in real big letters) it just looks cheap, and you pay all that money, thats whatcha call a "cheap trick"
so its no lose to me, i know my name, and its NOT tommy hilshingler

DigitalLisa said:

What a wanker!

Hilfiger clothes are BUTT-ugly. I'm not a sucker for name-brands anyway...my broke ass shops at Target and Meijer. The only name brand I go for is Lip Service.

Moonbeam said:

not if you don't buy it in yellow and orange