Italian airline pulls video with actor in blackface as Barack Obama

Alitalia was fiercely criticised this week after releasing an advertisement on social media that featured an actor wearing blackface playing former president Barack Obama. The ad was made to promote the airline’s recently announced nonstop flight from Rome to Washington. A representative for the airline initially defended the video, saying that the actor portraying Obama was not Caucasian and that “makeup was applied to highlight features.” However, later Wednesday, the company apologised and said that it would remove the ad from all of its social media channels. “Alitalia deeply apologises for the offense caused by the promotional video on our new Washington route,” it said. “For our company, respect for everyone is mandatory, it was never our intention to hurt anyone and we will learn from what has happened.” <br/>