Bella Hadid is fighting back after Adidas pulled her recent ad campaign that featured her wearing running shoes inspired by a design from the 1972 Munich Olympics.
A source close to the situation told Us Weekly on Saturday, July 20, that the supermodel, 27, has hired lawyers to take legal measures against the sportswear brand after they canceled the ad.
"Bella has retained litigation counsel to take action against Adidas for their lack of public accountability for putting out a campaign that was thoughtless, cruel and damaging and that would associate any company or person with the death and violence of what took place at the 1972 Munich Games," the insider said. "Violence of any kind is not the answer and not consistent with Bella’s views."
Adidas earned criticism for including Hadid, who is of Palestinian heritage, in the ad, from Israel.
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Israel condemned the advertising, as well as Hadid's involvement, on their X account on Thursday, July 18.
The shoe company apologized for the commercial and said Friday that they are "revising the remainder of the campaign."
"We are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events — though these are completely unintentional — and we apologize for any upset or distress caused," they said in a statement .
"We believe in sport as a unifying force around the world and will continue our efforts to champion diversity and equality in everything we do," they continued.
The 1972 Olympics can be best remembered for a tragic massacre that took place just a week into the multi-sport event. On September 5 of that year, eight members of the Palestinian Black September militant group took 11 Israeli athletes and coaches hostage, with all victims being subsequently killed. A German police officer was also murdered.
The ad, which was for the "SL72 " trainers , showed Hadid sporting the sneakers while holding a bouquet of flowers as she stood in front of a red backdrop. "Giving Bella Hadid her flowers in the SL 72," Adidas had tweeted on Thursday before deleting the campaigns from social media.
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The American Jewish Committee also chimed in on the contentious advertisement, demanding that the company change the "egregious error."
"At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, 12 Israelis were murdered and taken hostage by Palestinian terrorist group Black September. For Adidas to pick a vocal anti-Israel model to recall this dark Olympics is either a massive oversight or intentionally inflammatory. Neither is acceptable," the AJC tweeted on Thursday.
Hadid has yet to publicly comment on the controversy, and she did share a snap earlier this week of herself on Instagram standing by Adidas billboard. However, as of July 20, her post has been deleted.
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