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Oops: BlackHair Mag Features White Woman On Cover, Freaks Out

Emily Bador Instagram screenshot

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Kevin Klenkel Kevin Klenkel is an intern at The Daily Caller News Foundation.
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BlackHair Magazine is really, really upset with itself for accidentally featuring a white model on its cover.

The international magazine has a policy to feature only “black and mixed-race heritage” models.

Somehow, neither the model, Emily Bador, nor the magazine realized her photo would be used on the cover. Bador brought the gaffe to light by posting a picture of the magazine cover on her instagram, paired with a lengthy apology.

A photo posted by e m i l y bador (@darth_bador) on

She claims she had no idea the years-old photo would be used for the cover of the magazine. She did not, and “would never have condoned,” the use of the photo for BlackHair.

In response to Bador, editors at BlackHair took to Facebook early Monday morning to apologize to readers for sticking a white woman on the cover of the December/January issue. Editor Keysha Davis explained in the statement, “We often ask PR companies/salons to submit images for the magazine, specifically stating that models must be Black or mixed race. We can only take their word for it, and of course, try to use our own judgment.”

Demetria Lucas D’Oyley, a contributing editor at The Root, quickly defended BlackHair by questioning whether readers would have even noticed that a white woman was on the cover. “Real talk: That girl looks black. Far blacker than Rachel Dolezal, who didn’t really look all that black but wound up running an NAACP chapter,” D’Oyley said.

Davis also used her apology as an opportunity to cover the mistake, “In this ever-changing world, race will surely become even more fluid and no doubt conversations around Black identity will continue to change.”

Thankfully for Bador, BlackHair and Davis, no one actually seems to care. The majority of responses to Bador’s Instagram post are supportive; Facebook users seemed to feel bad for the magazine and were content with the apology.

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