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Abercrombie & Fitch Gets Blowback for 'Pride Community Is Everybody' Tweet

Abercrombie and Fitch
AP Photo

The clothing company says Pride is about "not just LGBTQ people" -- and many of them object.

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Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is getting backlash for a tweet that asserted, "The Pride community is everybody, not just LGBTQ people."

The tweet, now deleted, was posted Saturday as part of the company's partnership with the Trevor Project, which runs a suicide prevention hotline for LGBT youth, and mentioned the organization. A&F's new "Made for Love" connection benefits the Trevor Project.

"But despite the praiseworthy connection, many of the brand's Twitter followers found it inappropriate," the BBC reports.

The critics called the tweet a straight takeover of Pride, with some likening it to the "all lives matter" response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Blogger Camille Beredjick, a former Advocate intern, tweeted, "This is not a productive statement. Pride is for LGBTQ people because of the ways it's been forcibly taken from us."

Another Twitter user, Zeus Tipado, commented, "LGBTQ just got the All Lives Matter treatment."

A&F sent out two more tweets asserting its support for LGBT people, the BBC reports. "Pride is an important time for the LGBTQ+ community," the first one said. "At A&F we work to ensure that everyone feels included, respected and empowered. #pride." The second one noted, "We are proud to show commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and bring awareness to the important work @TrevorProject does."

Several Twitter users praised those sentiments, but some pointed out that they didn't constitute an apology for the initial tweet. One named Triyonce tweeted a photo of a woman with a magnifying glass, captioned "Me looking for the word 'sorry' in your tweets."

A sample of other Twitter reactions:

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.