Names and faces
■ Kim Phuc Phan Thi, known as the ‘Napalm Girl’ in an iconic 1972 Vietnam War photo, was honored Monday in Germany with the Dresden Peace Prize for her work in support of peace. Organizers behind the award, which includes a cash prize worth more than $11,300, said the 55-year-old, who now lives in Canada, is being honored for her support of UNESCO and children maimed or wounded in war, as well as for speaking out publicly against violence and hatred. Past recipients of the prize include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; Daniel Ellsberg, the activist who, in 1971, released the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam War; and American civil-rights activist Tommie Smith. Phuc was 9 when a South Vietnamese plane dropped napalm bombs on her village, believing it harbored enemy North Vietnamese troops. The image of Phuc running down a road crying, naked and with burns across her body was captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973.
■ Fashion collaborator Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day is seeking accountability as other celebrities call for boycotts of Gucci after the fashion house apologized for producing a sweater that was compared to blackface. The Harlem-based designer posted on Instagram Sunday “there is no excuse or apology that can erase this kind of insult.” Day, who collaborated with Gucci in 2017 on a menswear line, claims the chief executive officer of Gucci has agreed to meet with him and members of the community in Harlem. Gucci produced an $890 black-knit wool balaclava sweater with an oversized collar that pulls over the chin and nose. It includes a slit where the mouth is, ringed with what looks like giant red lips. Its similarity to blackface prompted an instant backlash from the public and forced the company to apologize publicly last week. Gucci did not respond to an email seeking comment. In its statement last week, the company said it had removed an image of the sweater from its e-commerce site and was withdrawing the item from all of its physical stores. “We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make,” the company said. “We are fully committed to increasing diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond.”