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Converse pulls ad after leftists see nonexistent KKK imagery: 'They want so badly to be offended'
September 24, 2026
The left sees a Klan hood and a lynching scene, but Pat Gray just sees sneakers.
A sneaker advertisement featuring a K-pop star has become the latest victim of the left.
Converse pulled an image featuring Karina of the group Aespa and issued a public apology after critics claimed the ad's lighting and composition evoked imagery associated with the Ku Klux Klan and lynching.
“We’re sorry,” Converse said in a statement. “We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong.” The company removed the ad from its channels and was working to remove it everywhere else.
“This is so ridiculous,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”
“You have to be an absolute horrific racist yourself to see any of that,” he continues, exclaiming that “there’s nothing.”
“The chain at the beginning. Are you serious? That’s a chain of slavery? In your mind,” he adds.
Those crying racism pointed out that the shadows created a white hood reminiscent of the KKK, and the shoes Karina was holding in her hand appeared to look like a lynching.
“How do you make all of this into slavery and the KKK?” Gray asks.
To make matters worse, the creative director behind the ad was a black man.
“They want so badly to be offended and have a stupid cause. And so they find stuff that just no sane person would ever conclude,” executive producer Keith Malinak says.
Gray agrees. “Seriously, when you look at the ad, if you didn’t know there was any kind of outrage, you’d never get any of that from what occurred on the screen.”
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