What Do You See Here?

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

A K-pop star holding a pair of Chuck Taylors was enough. Crop the frame, squint at a star-shaped spotlight, and a Nike subsidiary is suddenly in the business of hoods and hangings, according to disturbed leftists who see racism everywhere.

Instead of ignoring the demented behaviour, Converse pulled the image, apologised on cue, and promised to “do better.” The people filming themselves crying and torching sneakers got the ritual they wanted.

The still came from Converse’s Chuck 70 X campaign with Aespa singer Karina, rolled out internationally from late August. She stands inside the brand’s five-pointed star, in a long white skirt, holding black high-tops.

A few black activists online (like actress Yvette Nicole Brown and U.S. Rep. Troy Carter) said that this ad was “White Supremacy”, so Converse apologized & took it down.
It’s a Korean K-Pop girl.
Never apologize to the woke mob.
They’re crazy. pic.twitter.com/gkmCwUPYfp

— Mr Reagan (@MrReaganUSA) September 21, 2026

Online, the crop did the work. Lighting on the fabric became a pointed hood. The shoes became dangling feet. The full picture – an Asian pop star in a logo spotlight – was conveniently left out.

Louisiana Democrat (experts on the KKK) Rep. Troy Carter fumed “Nike and Converse, what the hell were you thinking?Your campaign shows what looks like a hooded Klansman, framed by what appears to be the dangling feet of a lynching victim. There is nothing creative or artistic about it. It is racist, reckless and deeply offensive.”

He went further: “Black pain is not a marketing prop. Lynching is not a creative concept. The Ku Klux Klan is not an aesthetic.” He also said repairing the alleged harm would take “more than an apology written by your public relations department.”

Converse delivered that apology anyway. “We’re sorry,” the company said. “We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong. We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened, and we will do better.”

Converse apologizes for shoe ads that critics blasted as evoking the KKK https://t.co/fpi8ITThA7 pic.twitter.com/rhYhu4niYg

— New York Post (@nypost) September 19, 2026

A second campaign – Converse x Palmes, with figures on a ladder reaching shoes near a tree – was dragged into the same pile-on. Two different shoots, one moral script.

How any American who is remotely educated can look at this horrifying ad & not see a klan hood and the feet of a hanging body…makes me speechless.

I cannot fathom why @Converse would green light something so abhorrent. Lynchings of Black people in the US is NOT ancient history pic.twitter.com/t0fou2Ct4Q

— NanaSue ? ?????? (@NanaSueSpeaks) September 19, 2026

Chicago photographer Stephanie Schwartz claimed on Threads: “Shadow, light, and composition. Every photographer can tell you, whoever did this ad knew EXACTLY what they were doing.”

Replies called it a Rorschach test. One user wrote that an Asian woman holding sneakers “tells nothing about the picture” and “everything about you.”

One X respondent put the optical-illusion case in the open. “People are demanding mass firings at Converse and Nike over ‘blatant racism’ in an ad of K-pop star Karina holding a pair of sneakers.” The account added: “Look at the photo….It’s an Asian woman in a white skirt, standing in a star-shaped spotlight, holding shoes. Some people squint and see a Klan hood and a lynching. That’s pareidolia the same thing that makes you see faces in outlets and Jesus in toast.”

Treating an accidental shadow as a “coordinated hate ritual,” the post argued, is not justice. It is assuming the worst and then demanding the company prove a negative.

People are demanding mass firings at Converse and Nike over “blatant racism” in an ad of K-pop star Karina holding a pair of sneakers.

The problem is…most of the people who approved this ad ARE LIKELY BLACK!

Look at the photo….It’s an Asian woman in a white skirt, standing… https://t.co/tAnKQOcbWv pic.twitter.com/sdjJATulQx

— Clerpatriot (@clerpatriot) September 19, 2026

Once the crop went viral, the content shifted from captions to performance. People cut logos, painted over stars, dumped new pairs in bins and set them alight.

NEW: Boycott of Converse has spread among the left-wing woke mob, with some people burning, cutting up, painting over the logo and throwing away the brand’s shoes after the company released a new ad for its iconic sneakers.

The campaign featured a female model holding a pair of… pic.twitter.com/N2tDlHQXq9

— I Meme Therefore I Am ?? (@ImMeme0) September 19, 2026

I found even more desperate people manufacturing outrage over Converse, virtue-signaling for clout, and proudly burning and throwing away their shoes. https://t.co/edkiudEorv pic.twitter.com/KdoBZX99qB

— I Meme Therefore I Am ?? (@ImMeme0) September 21, 2026

Lindsay Clancy fan burns her Converse over an ad TikTok decided is a “coded message” from white supremacists

We have a serious mental health crisis pic.twitter.com/dbYVrM9nml

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 20, 2026

Another user circulated clips of lunatics weeping over the still, then a follow-up of a woman binning brand-new Chucks. “When normal people look at the ad all they see is a girl holding a pair of shoes,” the account wrote.

“When woke black people who have a constant need to play victim about something look at the ad they see a Klan member lynching a black a man.” A later update noted “woke whites have joined the party.”

WOW ?

Black Liberals are filming themselves crying over the new converse ad that they have now deemed as racist??

In their never ending quest to be victims of nonexistent racism they’ve now resorted to flipping through ads looking for something to be offended by.

When normal… pic.twitter.com/G7K7tPvbgp

— Cinema Shogun (@CinemaShogun) September 19, 2026

Not every Black voice played along. One woman said the fatigue was real and the boycott was theatre. “When will this nonsense stop? It’s out of control. We are tired. So burn your Converse, cancel Converse, cancel Nike. Nobody cares.” She praised the ad and said the company should not have apologised.

Black woman slams the woke mob over the backlash against Converse, saying the fatigue is real and nobody cares about their boycott.

She praises the ad and says the company shouldn’t have apologized. She adds that people can boycott the brand all they want, but companies will… https://t.co/edkiudEorv pic.twitter.com/OlQIufGZWF

— I Meme Therefore I Am ?? (@ImMeme0) September 20, 2026

Has anyone checked on this K-pop star Karina after she has been dragged all over the internet for the Converse ad???

She probably thought she booked an adorable Converse campaign that would open doors and bring her more money…

Instead, the American left has cropped her ad,… pic.twitter.com/woGUOot8xG

— Clerpatriot (@clerpatriot) September 20, 2026

If you looked at that Converse ad and saw a KKK hood, you need to log off and touch grass https://t.co/yAuaCYjMSE

— Clown World ™ ? (@ClownWorld) September 20, 2026

Karina did nothing wrong with this Converse ad.

If you looked at this and saw a KKK ad, you’re psychotic and need to be checked into a mental asylum. pic.twitter.com/1moVP3flzI

— Kangmin Lee | ??? (@kangminlee) September 20, 2026

Karina and SM Entertainment did not immediately respond to press queries. The singer is now attached to a controversy designed in social media feeds, not Seoul studios.

Bloomberg later obtained an internal memo from Converse CEO Aaron Cain. “The images should not have been used, and we began removing them from all channels as soon as the concern was raised,” he told staff. “The leadership team and I are taking a hard look at our internal review process and the critical lens we apply to our work.” Cain did not spell out the changes.

The timing is ugly for a reason that has nothing to do with hoods. Converse has been one of Nike’s stubborn weak spots through a long run of falling sales. A brand that cannot ship growth now cannot ship a star-shaped light without a struggle session. Calls for firings and boycotts filled the replies.

There is a difference between historical memory and a bizarre hunt for racist shapes in fabric. One is serious. The other is manufactured content. Converse chose the audience that treats every shadow as a manifesto. The rest of the country still sees a girl holding sneakers.