What happened
In December 2018 a Prada store in Soho filled a window with Pradamalia figurines. NBC reported that civil-rights lawyer Chinyere Ezie posted photos she called “racist and denigrating blackface imagery.” CNBC said the New York City Commission on Human Rights found monkey figurines that evoked Sambo, a caricature used to dehumanize Black people, and that Prada also pulled an accessory with brown skin and oversized red lips that people compared to blackface. The Commission investigated. Prada took the merchandise down.
On February 5, 2020, the Commission announced a conciliation: racial-equity training for New York employees and Milan executives, and an executive-level diversity officer to review U.S. advertising and products. NBC quoted Commissioner Carmelyn P. Malalis saying the agreement “recognizes the harm of racist iconography” and charts “greater inclusion and respect for Black people,” and that Miuccia Prada, her husband Patrizio Bertelli, and CEO Carlo Mazzi would go through the training. CNBC quoted a Prada spokesperson calling it a mutually agreed conclusion. That is a city human-rights settlement, not a jury verdict, and this file does not invent a fine amount the coverage did not state.
The Cookout read
Concern. Luxury houses do not get a pass because the insult sat in a Soho window instead of a hoodie. The receipt is the figurines. Training and a diversity officer are labeled as what NYC extracted after the fact—not a standing program this file will dress up as repair, and not a finding after trial.