UPDATE (August 6, 12:50 p.m.):
Daymond John, one of the co-founders of FUBU, was approached by TMZ about this situation, and his response is what most people wouldn't expect. John was seen on the streets wearing a FUBU football jersey, hat, and chain, and declaring his admiration for the racist Southern man who was wearing his sneakers.
John said that, "FUBU is for people of all colors," and, even more interestingly, "The guy has great taste in sneakers and ... people have been calling FUBU every day now. I wish I knew his name, I want to write him a check."
It appears that FUBU is also in the midst of a re-launch. A few months ago, the guys from Amsterdam's Patta, a sneaker boutique and clothing line, were seen with Willie Esco, who recently helped re-launch Coogi and Etonic, standing behind a FUBU logo.
Sounds like perfect timing for John.
Watch the video below.
See original story from August 3, 2015, below.
Racial tensions are heating up in America, aided by those in the South who don't want to get rid of the Confederate Flag, and, oddly enough, sneakers have been played a minor role in protests that recently took place in Stone Mountain, Ga.
First it was reported that a man wearing Air Jordan IIIs had stomped on a flag in front of the Confederate flag-waving faithful, but now a story that further examines race and style has emerged. As noted by Raw Story, Pine Lake, Ga., city council member George Chidi — who happens to be black — confronted a white man with a Ku Klux Klan tattoo, who was carrying the Confederate flag and wearing a pair of FUBU sneakers.
FUBU — a clothing company founded in 1992 in Queens, New York, by Daymond John, J. Alexander Martin, Keith Perrin, and Carlton Brown — is an acronym of "For Us, By Us," a call to African Americans in the fashion industry.
When confronted, the man with the sneakers had no clue what he was wearing and defends his right to wear the sneakers, saying, "I don't care what it's by, I bought 'em, it's my right to buy." And further said, "I don't care if Afro Americans wear them."
The man with the FUBU sneakers goes on to say, "The sneakers you wore were probably designed by a white man in the 1920s."
The conversation between the two men is eventually broken up, with Chidi's point lost upon the man in the FUBU sneakers.
Watch the exchange unfold below:
