Shakira tour promoters pull 'inadvertent' Nazi symbol

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A necklace that fans of pop star Shakira said resembles a Nazi symbol has been pulled from merchandise promoting her world tour.

Promoter Live Nation made the announcement after a backlash on social media. The necklace was dropped from sale two weeks after Shakira's "El Dorado World Tour" opened June 3 in Germany.

Internet users said the item was similar to the Black Sun image used by the Nazis.

But Live Nation said on its Twitter account that the necklace was based on Pre-Colombian imagery.

April 12, 2010: The "Hall of the Supreme SS Leaders", a circular room with a mysterious occult symbol known as the "Schwarze Sonne" or "Black Sun" on the floor in the north tower of the Wewelsburg Castle (Schloss Wewelsburg) designed by SS leader Heinrich Himmler to be the capital of the Nazi global empire after World War II, in Wewelsburg, Germany. /VCG Photo

"However, some fans have expressed concern that the design bears an unintentional resemblance to Neo-Nazi imagery. We sincerely apologize for this inadvertent similarity and have permanently pulled the item from the tour collection," the US company said.

Social media users have called Shakira a "Nazi" for putting the design on sale.

German news portal Bento stirred up the controversy. "The symbol hides three swastikas. A simple search for images on Google or Wikipedia proves it, the Black Sun is a Nazi symbol."

Colombian singer Shakira, girlfriend of Spain's defender Gerard Pique, is seen before the start of the FIFA Confederations Cup final football match between Brazil and Spain, at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on June 30, 2013. /VCG Photo

The site also underlined that the solar wheel image is used by Neo-Nazi groups in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg, although it is not banned, like the Swastika.

According to academic Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, professor of Western Esotericism at Exeter University, the black sun actually dates back to ornamental discs used by the Merovingians, a dynasty that ruled over what is now France and Germany for 300 years starting in the fifth century.

UNICEF goodwill ambassador Shakira, 41, has frequently spoken out against racism, including in a February 2017 article for Time Magazine against US President Donald Trump's immigration policy.

(Cover: File photo taken on September 22, 2015, shows UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Shakira at a press conference at the United Nations in New York by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP