Kenyan designer apologises after receiving backlash over T-shirt worn by rapper Jay-Z
The US-based designer Zeddie Lukoye and CEO of Blkburd Genes has apologized, according to the reports and the mosque has accepted it in 'good faith'.
- Entertainment News
- 2 min read
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American rapper Jay Z was recently spotted wearing a designer T-shirt with an image of Lamu's Riyadha Mosque on it and this didn't go down well with the clerics of the historic Kenyan mosque. Lamu is a 19th-Century mosque and a UNESCO-listed World Heritage site.
On April 3, Riyadha Mosque took to their Facebook page and shared a letter expressing their disappointment.
It read, "The Management Committee of the Riyadha Mosque and Islamic Centre, Lamu, Patrons and General worshippers are disturbed and actually feel insulted by the photos of Jay Z wearing a Bikburdgenes T-shirt portraying our Riyadha Mosque Lamu, designer by Zeddie Loky. Rest assured, we neither consider it an honor nor a privilege for the Historical Mosque and its Founder Habib Swaleh. When wearers of these T-shirts end up in bars, clubs and at all sorts of sacrilegious joints, it is certainly an affront to the spiritual respect and dignity towards all those who revere the Mosque, its Founder and the General Muslim community within and outside Lamu. We therefore politely write to you to show respect for the Mosque by 'removing our Mosque's portrait', if actually you are guided by a sincere intention to display the Riyadha Mosque as an icon of the Lamu World Heritage Site and the Mosque as a National Monument."
The US-based designer Zeddie Lukoye has apologized, according to the reports and the mosque has accepted it in 'good faith'. The reports suggest that the designer has specified that only 20 T-shirts have been sold and those who have them were requested not to 'wear them in a bar or a club'. According to the website of LA-based clothing brand blkburd Genes, the company is on a 'mission to educate people around the world about history, nature and current affairs."
The T-shirts costs around Sh21,000 ($195)
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Lamu's Riyadha mosque in Kenya is disturbed after American rapper Jay Z was spotted allegedly wearing a T-shirt with its image. pic.twitter.com/7Kwnt5Bm3x
— FL3XX™ (@ImDahDude_01) April 4, 2021
