Celebrities have been boycotting Gucci after the clothing giant released a sweater that a cut out mouth and red lips that resembled a blackface caricature.
We talk to African American history expert Dr. Keith Mayes from University of Minnesota about history of the history of this racist practice.
On the Two Haute Mamas podcast, Dr. Mayes says companies like Gucci need more diversity in their development and marketing departments to keep something like this from happening again.
But it's not all bad news, Dr. Mayes says this misstep by the retailer forces Americans to have a long overdue conversation about race in America. For its part, Gucci has promised to step up diversity in its hiring practices and has launched a scholarship program to help in that effort.
Dr. Mayes kicks off the controversial conversation at the beginning of the show: