Any discussion of America’s racial history is fraught with controversy, as DNA-testing company Ancestry is learning the hard way.
The genealogy website, which helps people trace their ancestral heritage by testing their DNA, is taking heat due to new ad it just released — and immediately yanked after it was hit with backlash.
The ad, titled “Inseparable”, was first posted on YouTube on April 2 (it’s since been removed), and depicts a white man in the South who professes his love to a black woman, who appears to be a slave.
The ad was hit by backlash, with accusations that the company is whitewashing America’s violent history of slavery by depicting it as a Harlequin-style romance.
“Abigail,” the Caucasian man tells the African-American woman, pulling a gold ring from his pocket. “We can escape to the north. There’s a place we can be together, across the border.”
Just as the brief video fades to black, he asks, “Will you leave with me?”
Ancestry responded to the backlash with an apology.
“Ancestry is committed to telling important stories from history,” the company said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. “This ad was intended to represent one of those stories. We very much appreciate the feedback we have received and apologize for any offence that the ad may have caused.”
Meanwhile, check out some of the Twitter reactions to the ad:
