the truth 'bout Tommy
Mills
the net...
When Rumors Are Clothed as Truth
Internet: Designer Tommy Hilfiger is the latest to be caught up in
an urban myth alleging that he made exclusionary comments. Being
published on the Net merely increases its circulation.
By JEANNINE STEIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Los Angeles Times Tuesday April 1, 1997
Home Edition
Life & Style, Page 1
Heard the one about clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger?
Seems he went on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and made racist remarks
about African Americans. A furious Winfrey threw him off the show.
An incredible story--if it had actually happened.
Hilfiger is the latest celebrity designer to become embroiled in
an urban legend alleging that he wants to see his clothes only on
the backs of white people. Although the rumors apparently have
been circulating on the Internet since November, the company only
recently responded.
"Tommy Hilfiger did not make the alleged inappropriate racial
comments," said a company statement posted on the Internet. ". . .
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."
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 African
Americans, at which point she threw him off the set.
Yet representatives of both shows deny Hilfiger ever appeared as a
guest.
Similar stories have plagued designer Liz Claiborne for some eight
years. She, too, supposedly stated her whites-only preference to
Winfrey.
And that rumor, circulated by word-of-mouth, had such legs that
film director Spike Lee denounced the designer in a 1992 Esquire
interview.
"Claiborne got on," he said, "and said she didn't make clothes for
black people. . . . It definitely happened. Get the tape."
But it didn't. And an "Oprah" producer said she has no idea how or
why rumors about the fashion designers got started.
Hilfiger's all-American preppy wear has been embraced by several
musicians, including rappers Grand Puba and Chef Raekwon, who even
evoke the designer's name in their lyrics. And the New York-based
Hilfiger had this to say about his high-profile supporters in an
interview in August with The Times: "I'm complimented. I know they
can wear anything. . . .
They choose my clothes. It's a true, true honor. I think these kids
are so cool."
But such public comments, and the fact that the chairman of
Hilfiger' s $400-million empire is Asian American, apparently have
no impact on the grapevine.
Patricia Turner, associate professor of African-American studies
at UC
Davis and the author of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine: Rumor in
African-American Culture" (University of California Press, 1993),
has been following the Hilfiger hearsay for several weeks.
She says it echoes an incident in the late 1980s involving Troop
clothing. The rumor mill branded that line, a favorite label among
young
African Americans, saying its backers were racists with ties to the
Ku
Klux Klan.
One theory behind such rumors is that they're a form of consumer
backlash, Turner says.
"One of the common denominators with these [targeted] clothing
manufacturers is that they're usually very popular clothing, a
little pricey, and usually garments that took off and were
successful right away," Turner says. ". . . Some people can walk
into a store and say, 'No way am I spending this amount of money.'
Others, the temptation is so great, if someone says, 'You know
what he said on "Oprah," ' it's easier to leave the clothes in the
store."
Beneath the fabrications is a message: "There are very elaborate,
sophisticated campaigns to get us to spend money on clothing, and
maybe that's not always a good thing, especially for young people.
Maybe they should be spending money on textbooks instead of a
sweatshirt."
And, as Hilfiger discovered, the Internet lends stories a certain
legitimacy.
"The credence," Turner says, "comes in people saying, 'I saw it on
"Oprah," I saw it on "60 Minutes." ' There's something
authenticating it, something you have faith in. The Internet is
new and seductive, and there's a portion of the population that
thinks that if it's on a computer, it must be true."
Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times, 1997.When
Rumors Are Clothed as Truth; Internet: Designer Tommy Hilfiger is
the latest to be caught up in an urban myth alleging that he made
exclusionary comments. Being published on the Net merely increa..
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 1998 Infonautics Corporation. All rights reserved. -
Terms and Conditions
--
AMANDLA!
Mills.
******************************************************
www.HipHopCity.com - "Where HipHop Lives!"
Bringing you the most complete archive of HipHop history and its
Four Elements [DJing, eMCeeing, Breakdancing and Graffiti]
Read and learn!
******************************************************
Steve 'Flash' Juon
says...
> the truth 'bout Tommy
Is that Rugrats is a really boring movie.
Oh, and that kid Blinky Blank, Blanky Blink, Mase's brother or whatever?
Retardism must run in the family, cause neither ONE of dem can rap.
--
"Look out the window golly the sky is electric blue..." --> Andre B.
"Sony or Aiwa, black or white, I fit in all stereotypes" --> Wordsworth
Steve 'Flash' Juon --> contact dj.f...@pobox.com for e-mail
Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive --> http://www.OHHLA.com/index.htm
Suite 101's Hip-Hop --> http://suite101.com/welcome.cfm/116
luis hermosillo II
fund the movie boring as hell.......I LOVE the show, and I used to watch
it every week...for about a year, so I was always a fan....but this
movie is the first in a long time to nearly put me to sleep in
ththeater...the only thing that kept me awake were the screaming kids
and my lady next to me squeezing my arm.......the last movie I paid to
see that almost put me to sleep was "Mr. Nice Guy"........
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
"I gotta lump in my throat 'cuz I just can't swallow my Brown Pride"
-FROST
"I'll do it so good, I swear I'll drink every ounce, then I'll hold you
tight, I'll hold you long and together we'll stand in silence......then
we'll try to imagine what it looks like.....yeah....we'll try to imagine
what silence looks like....." -PRINCE
"some seem to act like being brown is a crime......if that's true, I
guess I'm a criminal, 'cuz I'm brown to the maximum, never the minimum"
-Frank V of Proper Dos
"why is it that most of the people against abortion are people you
wouldn't wanna fuck in the first place?! -George Carlin
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
SORDSWINGA
u have a problem with tommy bein a racist or whatever the claim is dont wear
it, timberland is a racist company but everyone still wears em.
L Key 504
>timberland is a racist company but everyone still wears em.
How are they racist?
"Some say we pro-black, but we're professional." --Big Boi
"Oh, the internet's on computers now!" --Homer Simpson
k.orr
From Forbes April 21, 1997, "Badass sells" p.144
"Many of these people would rather have a Rolex than a home"
Here's what they think about you.
Don't let me get out my Vanity Fair.
peace
k. orr
house of phat beats
Ayo...
Otilio Jacobs... (Les)
ACME ThinkTank Whatever Provider
Associate Managing Editor, Daily Texan
House of Phat Beats/The Dolla Holla Show
11pm-1am Thursdays/2pm-4pm Fridays
91.7 KVRX/KO.OP Austin Texas
http://www.utexas.edu/students/acme
http://www.utexas.edu/students/kvrx
http://www.koop.org
http://stumedia.tsp.utexas.edu/webtexan
Steve 'Flash' Juon
Or...@weiss.che.utexas.edu says...
> something you need to know about Tommy Hilfiger.
>
> From Forbes April 21, 1997, "Badass sells" p.144
>
> "Many of these people would rather have a Rolex than a home"
Doesn't that sound eeriely like what Woody Harrelson's character said
in _White Men Can't Jump_ about "looking pretty rather than winning?"
Strange. But when I read this, that statement popped RIGHT in my head.
Of course, my opinion of Tommy Hilfiger was that it was high priced
bourgeoise trash anyway; long before anybody thought he was a racist.
Fuck expensive clothes, I'd rather cop a J-Live twelve inch.
Can-O-Whoopa$$ 3:16
Can-O-Whoopa$$ 3:16
Rugrats Movie is helluva 'lot better than that Leo DiCrappio's Celebrity
movie, that movie was boring as hell.
SORDSWINGA
>
>How are they racist?
there was a whole story on them like 2 years ago about how they fired a couple
black workers for no reason, one was a manager i believe. there was an article
in the source about it a while ago. anybody else know anything about this that
can elaborate further?