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Cosmopolitan has apologized to supermodel Joan Smalls for a post called "21 Beauty Trends That Need to Die in 2015" that showed almost entirely white women in the "Hello Gorgeous" column. Readers took to Twitter to complain that the black women featured in the story were all in the "out" column, with the initials "RIP" written above their faces. All of the 21 women featured in the "Hello Gorgeous" column were white, except for Nicole Richie. Joan Smalls was in the "RIP" column for her black lipstick, and Cosmo responded to her disgusted tweet about the story:
@joansmalls Empowering and supporting all women is our mission, and here, we fell short. We apologize and will do better in the future.
— Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) April 3, 2015
The article, which was posted back in January, now has an apology added to the beginning of the post. Cosmo tweeted that apology out as well:
A note from Cosmo: http://t.co/aVOP1ziu1M pic.twitter.com/NJwJaLe7eg
— Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) April 2, 2015
But some readers aren't impressed with Cosmo's apology. Here are some tweets directed at the magazine:
oh so @Cosmopolitan finally addressed their screw up, completely missing the point. we took them 'out of context' pic.twitter.com/6CBN7vOZde
— Tracy Clayton (@brokeymcpoverty) April 3, 2015
Is this supposed to be an apology???? "@Cosmopolitan: A note from Cosmo: http://t.co/hxCDbrwWWR pic.twitter.com/FPkL1AramT"
— True Believer✨ (@LoveMyOpinions) April 2, 2015
the fact that thousands of "regular" Black women were ignored by @cosmopolitan and it took @joansmalls to get an answer speaks volumes.
— [exaggerated peech] (@_peech) April 3, 2015
@brokeymcpoverty @Cosmopolitan I want to know why they thought it was ok to put "RIP" above a living person's face. They are just tone deaf
— Bella Southern (@Spelmanite88) April 3, 2015
I hope this @Cosmopolitan fiasco leads to a kick-ass Black beauty blogger/writer getting a job. There are a LOT of them!
— Jamilah Lemieux (@JamilahLemieux) April 3, 2015
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