Walmart tags Nigerian-owned hair product ‘nigger brown’ — and faces fire
A Nigerian-owned weaving net for hair extensions, Jagazi Natural’s Full Cap, was selling on Walmart’s online store and offered the product in the color ‘nigger brown’.
This was noticed by Twitter users who in turn called the store out for the slur.
A Twitter Kwani Lunis asked, “Hey @Walmart what are you doing,” about the weaving net.
Walmart, since then, has been receiving backlash for selling a product that used the n-word to describe its “characteristic and chic design.”
The store removed the product from its online shelve by Monday afternoon and has put out an apology to the public claiming they had been unaware.
“We are very sorry and appalled that this third party seller listed their item with this description on our online marketplace,” Walmart said in a statement Monday.
“It is a clear violation of our policy and has been removed, and we are investigating the seller to determine how this could have happened.”
The third party seller would be Chizo Onuh, a London-based Nigerian and owner of Jagazi Naturals.
However, Onuh, having heard about the slur and received emails calling her out for racism, said the person in question selling the product is a fake vendor.
The 39-year-old told the Daily News, “Considering the fact that I’m a black woman from Nigeria, what really pains me is that I get these emails from other black people who are in pain because of that word.”
Apparently, this isn’t the first time the Jagazi owner would face battles regarding her own brand name.
The ”nonsense” name, she called it, had, prior to this, been copied by most ecommerce platforms including Amazon.
So much so that Onuh said there is “nothing I can do about it”.
She, however, expressed doubts if her product had ever been used with a racial slur before.
David Rose · Chaminade University of Honolulu, HI
Wouldn;t it be more productive if we prayed for these individuals and then moved on? Roll our eyes at what is assuredly a bad joke, rather than over react and and respond in like manner. Hate, and poor tatse, is wrong in all its forms, by fixating on singular words and events we mss the forest for the trees. And as for the word “nigger”, it will always be a sticking point in race relations when you have the offended segment of the population glorifying the word in everyday speech and cultural expression. As long as its the N- word, and not just another word, we are doomed to ride this hamster wheel of failed growth as a nation.
Certainly, it really irks me…..the N word is used freely by African ‘Black’ Americans on themselves but once a somewhat outsider uses it it’s criminal. I don’t get it…….it then becomes a topic for cheap TV shows et al….
dont mind them .
I was not offended.