Converse Drama Explained as Company Removes Ad After Racism Accusations - Newsweek

Converse has apologized after removing a social media advertisement that sparked accusations of racism from critics who said it evoked imagery of lynching and the Ku Klux Klan.

The photograph featured the K-pop singer Karina wearing a skirt and holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sneakers. Criticism came quickly online, as people said a white triangular image, created by lighting on her skirt to mimic the top of the Converse star logo, resembled a Ku Klux Klan hood. Critics also said that the way the sneakers were being held made them look like the dangling feet of a lynching victim.

In a statement, first released on Friday, Converse said, “We’re sorry.”

“We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong. We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened and we will do better,” the company, which is owned by Nike, said.

Karina has not publicly commented as of reporting.

Newsweek has reached out to a media representative for Karina via an online contact form and contacted Converse via email for comment.

The controversy comes amid rising concerns over the deaths of people of color in the U.S. In July, 18-year-old Nolan Wells disappeared during a boating trip to Horn Island, a barrier island about 10 miles off the Mississippi coast, and his body was later found.

In August, 29-year-old Tasia Fortune was found dead, hanging from a tree in Mississippi. A man has been arrested in connection with her death. Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said that the arrest is an “important development,” but is “not the conclusion.”

In September 2025, on the same day, the body of a Black male and the body of a white male were discovered. Both deaths were ruled suicides, but the mother of the deceased Black man, Trey Reed, contests those findings.

These deaths have raised questions and gained national attention. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat, has called for the Department of Justice to investigate what she described in a public letter as “possible modern-day lynchings.”

Converse has been widely criticized for the image, which social media users said evoked imagery of the Ku Klux Klan and lynchings. There have been calls to fire those involved in the ad and to boycott the company more broadly.

Actor Yvette Nicole Brown wrote on Threads, “That’s a lynching, yes?”

Lee Merritt, a Texas-based civil rights attorney, wrote in a post on Instagram that the apology from Converse “doesn’t undo what got past legal, marketing and leadership at every step. We keep having the same conversation because corporations keep failing the same test.”

There has been pushback against the backlash, with some defending Converse and saying they did not believe the imagery was intentional.

Media influencer Mario Nawfal wrote in a post on X, “Nobody has proof they meant it. The fight is how that frame cleared a whole company.”

The KKK is a white supremacist hate group that promotes racism, antisemitism and nativism.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) states: “The Ku Klux Klan, with its long history of violence, is the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups. Although Black Americans have typically been the Klan’s primary target, adherents also attack Jewish people, persons who have immigrated to the United States, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

The KKK was established in 1865 at the conclusion of the Civil War but had largely disbanded around the time Jim Crow laws came into play.

It has been revived multiple times. This included the 1960s in opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. According to the SPLC, there are active factions of the KKK in states including Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.

The head of Converse has pledged to review internal processes and told employees that he will make necessary changes, following the ad's release.

“The images should not have been used, and we began removing them from all channels as soon as the concern was raised,” Converse CEO Aaron Cain said in a memo to employees reported by Bloomberg News.

“The leadership team and I are taking a hard look at our internal review process and the critical lens we apply to our work,” Cain said.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Sam Wilson.