Actress Priyanka Chopra’s latest magazine cover, in which she sports a t-shirt with the words refugee, immigrant, outsider and traveller, has not gone down well with some, who took to social media to slam it as “insensitive”.
The 34-year-old “Quantico” actress’s plain white t-shirt features refugee, immigrant, outsider, traveller arranged one below another but the first three words are struck off with a red line, suggesting that Priyanka is a traveller.
It’s a simple, white T-shirt, and its message has just four stand-alone words, arranged one below the other in the following order: Refugee, immigrant, outsider, traveller. The first three words are struck through, making the message sound like a riposte to racist ways of perceiving people who travel to new places for various reasons.
But some Twitter users took exception to what they felt was an insensitive message. One of them pointed out that refugees, unlike travellers, don’t choose to leave their homes and go elsewhere.
Yet others defended Chopra. One commenter said the message in the t-shirt meant that “in an ideal world there would be no refugees, immigrants or outsiders. We’d all be travellers, global citizens.”
Another pointed out that the message may allude to differences in perceptions of immigrants of European origin and other immigrants.
However, there were others who thought the cover was not offensive or insensitive.
“Priyanka’s shirt means in an ideal world there would be no refugees, immigrants or outsiders. We’d all be travellers, global citizens,” one said.
Another added, “@priyankachopra @CNTIndia such an inspiring Msg on TShirt, I don’t understand why people are offended with it? Call them all travelers.”
IANS/PTI
