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.
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