The Scandal was...

...that Tommy Hilfiger was Oprah's guest and at that occasion said something along the lines of his clothes being made for upper-class whites and that he wished only they would wear them.

Information instead of disinformation. Clarity instead of hoaxes, scams, rumors and urban legends.

Let me begin by clarifying that what I am about to share happened years ago, but it is still significant. The rumor travelled by e-mail, and later by word of mouth. The e-mail closed with "Let's give Hilfiger what he's asked for - let's not buy his clothes. Boycott!", and the word of mouth closing statement was similar.

People were quite taken by it, I know I was. I fit the "white upper-class" category his clothes were supposedly designed for. Since I was born as an opponent of racism, and this information about Tommy Hilfiger came from a very close person, whom I trusted explicitly, I saw no other option but to truly boycott anything designed by Tommy Hilfiger.

A few months later I forwarded this piece of information by word of mouth, and as I did so, something about that bugged me. So, I started researching. Only a few minutes later I found out the truth: Tommy Hilfiger didn't say that, in fact he was never even a guest on Oprah! I found this out from the most reliable source in this case, from Oprah herself. A range of feelings came up... most of all guilt and shame for believing and forwarding the information, and anger that anyone would even come up with such a lie and start spreading it by e-mail.

Learning from Mistakes

I knew that Hilfiger wasn't hurting financially, but it was a lie and an injustice nonetheless, and therefore wrong. I immediately let the one person I had shared this with know about my findings and from then on a new me was born. I never again fell for a rumor, and any time "an amazing piece of news" is passed on to me, if it sounds interesting, if I may want to share it with others, I first verify the information before forwarding it to anyone.

It is ok to make a mistake, it happens. But, we are meant to learn from them, and adjust our behaviour based on the lessons we learn.

The 'Current' State of Things

Even an update to this is an old story. Back in 2007 Tommy Hilfiger wanted to dispel the rumor, so on May 2nd he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show - for the first time. He lived with this rumor for 10 years and it hurt him in different ways. Being "known as" a racist is not a small thing.

Oprah: Has it hurt you?
Tommy: In hurt my integrity, because at the end of the day that's all you have. And, people are going to challenge my honesty, my integrity and what I am as a person, it hurts more than anything else. Forget the money that it has cost me, forget anything else.
Oprah: But has it cost you money?
Tommy: It has cost me money, but it has cost me a heartache. You know, I have four children. My children would come home from school and say "Daddy, I go to school with a Jewish boy who says you don't like him!" And no, it's not true, and they are out telling kids "No, it's not true", "Tommy's not that way", or "My Dad's not that way", so that has really hurt. It has really hurt my heart and it has also been contrary to what my business motif was in the beginning.

Tommy Hilfiger doesn't require "help" anymore, the record has been set straight already and the rumor is history. This article is here as a piece of personal history, as this incident made me more rigorous in regards to claims of any sort. Learn from your mistakes, and if you haven't made any yet, then learn from mine.

Written by Sabina Nore
March 7th 2010.

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