Just as A$AP Rocky dropped his sophomore album last night, the rapper also got caught up in a fashion-related controversy. Rocky partnered with PacSun last summer shortly after Memorial Day. One of the pieces he designed for the chain included a t-shirt depicting an upside-down American flag. Rocky has been interested in the country's flag for a long time: you can see one hanging behind him on the cover of his career-making mixtape, Live.Love.A$AP. For the cover of his official debut, Long.Live.A$AP, he threw a flag around his shoulders like a cape.
Though the shirt has been in stores for a while, PacSun attracted a hailstorm of criticism for selling the shirt over Memorial Day weekend. (Sample Facebook comment: “I’d like to kick off this weekend by kicking anyone who shops at PacSun in the face.”) The company ended up pulling the shirt from its store and issuing a public apology.
Read PacSun’s statement below.
"As a retailer grounded in youth culture, PacSun values artistic and creative expression through the brands that we sell in our stores. Out of respect for those who have put their lives on the line for our country, we have decided to stop selling the licensed flag t-shirt and are removing it from our stores and website immediately. We thank the men and women in uniform for their extraordinary service."
Lead Image: Araya Diaz / Getty Images
