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Nancy Upton is responsible for getting American Apparel’s panties in a bunch! The Los Angeles based retailer has been scrutinized before, after a racist rant about which black models should be hired during a casting call:

“none of the trashy kind that come in, we don’t want that. we’re not trying to sell our clothes to them. try to find some of these classy black girls, with nice hair, you know?”

A woman recounted her experience:

“i will remember that forever, especially the “nice hair” part. he was instructing another manager and i on who to look for during an upcoming open call, and i sat there dumbfounded, listening to him speak while the other manager made “uh huh, got it” sounds on her end of the phone. the other manager on the call with me later became a district manager, and at one point instructed me to tell two of my employees (both of whom happened to be black females) to stop straightening their hair. i refused to do this, but wondered if the mentality behind her request was related to what dov had said.”

American Apparel in an attempt to cleanse their tarnished image, formed a contest for “booty-ful” girls where the women were “encouraged to post pictures of themselves on the retailer’s website in a chance to become the new face of American Apparel’s plus-size line.” Nancy Upton sent in this photo along with others! Well she won and American Apparel rewarded her with this message:

“My name is Iris Alonzo and I am a Creative Director at American Apparel. Along with four other women, I conceived of the Next BIG Thing campaign for American Apparel. Firstly, we are very sorry that we offended you. Our only motive was to discover and celebrate the many beautiful XL women around the globe who enjoy our brand, and to promote the recent size additions to our collection.” (Click here for the full message)

Nancy was appalled by American Apparel who used “cutesy words” like “booty-ful” instead of “beautiful.” She visited The Today Show where she spoke on the controversy.

HuffingtonPost.com

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