A university students union has apologised for using the faces of Zayn Malik and Sadiq Khan to celebrate Black History Month. The former One Direction singer and the Mayor of London are neither black and have no African or Caribbean heritage, they both instead have Pakistani roots.
The Kent Union from the University of Kent has also chosen other leading public figures, including Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Trevor McDonald. Rory Murray, the Union president has apologised for "not getting it right".
Social media posts released for the union's Black History Month campaign featuring Mr Malik and Mr Khan were withdrawn last Tuesday night. The event's UK organisers tweeted that they were "deeply disappointed at @KentUnion's ill thought and misdirected Black History Month celebrations".
Mr Murray said: "I want to apologise on behalf of Kent Union to any individuals who were upset, uncomfortable or offended by the image shared.There was no intent for this to happen and I am very sorry to anybody who felt this way.”
Issuing a joint statement, the Kent Union and the University of Kent said the campaign was in accordance with the National Union of Students' position on Black History Month. "In the planning stages, Kent Union worked with students to develop a campaign that celebrated a range of ethnic cultures. However, we can see that many of our students disagree with the direction the campaign took and that a mistake was made," they said.
