The parents of the 5-year-old model featured in H&M Clothing’s controversial “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” advertisement says they were forced to flee their home due to public backlash.
Terry Mango and her partner Frank Odhiambo appeared on ITV’s This Morning with the son Liam on Monday. They said they were forced to flee their Stockholm, Sweden home with their children after public backlash to the image of Liam wearing the hoodie.
Terry said Liam is unaware of the controversy because he’s only 5.
“He believes people love him for his modeling job,” Terry added.
“It’s very important to understand that me and Terry, we have a son, we have other children in the home that we are raising and we have an obligation to protect our children,” said Frank.
SEE ALSO: H&M Closes Locations After Protesters Trash Stores
Terry previously diminished the controversy and criticized protesters in Europe and abroad, saying “Get over it” and “Stop crying wolf all the time”.
Terry stands by her comments on social media, saying she still does not believe the image was racist.
“I know what racism is,” she told ITV. “I have had racist remarks directed to me firsthand, even with the name monkey, I’ve been called a monkey before and my reaction was the same.
“To put a t-shirt and the word monkey with racism. Maybe that is not my way of looking at it, I’m just looking at Liam, a black, young boy modeling a t-shirt with the word monkey on it. Everybody should respect different opinions based on racism.”
Frank added: “The most unfortunate thing is that my son is very young and there’s a lot that’s going to come with this and that really shakes me a little bit.”
H&M, which is based in Sweden, was forced to close most of their stores in South Africa after protesters went on a rampage trashing the stores on Saturday.
