Others blamed lack of cultural awareness while others defended H&M, calling the advert “an innocent mistake”. An H&M spokeswoman said: “We completely understand and agree with his reaction to the image. We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print.

“We have removed the image from all our channels and the sweater is no longer for sale in our stores.

                                              |   Coolest monkey in the jungle   |

“We will also look into our internal routines to avoid such situations in the future. We will continue the discussion with the Weeknd and his team separately.” Singer The Weeknd has said he will no longer work with H&M after the high street giant was forced to apologize over an offensive advert.

An image of a black child modeling a hoodie with the slogan “coolest monkey in the jungle” was labeled “racist” by people on social media after it appeared on the Swedish retailer’s UK website.

The Canadian singer, who has sold merchandise through H&M and modeled for the company, said he was “shocked and embarrassed” by the photo.

In a tweet that has been shared 20,000 times, blogger Stephanie Yeboah wrote: “Whose idea was it at @hm to have this little sweet black boy wear a jumper that says ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’? I mean. What.”

Selene Arianela compared the image to one of a white child modeling a hoodie emblazoned with the words “Jungle survival expert.”

She said: “This is inappropriate, offensive, and racist. Why is the white kid ‘a jungle survivor’ and the black kid the ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’?

“How do you think this is okay? REMOVE this and the clothing piece. This is completely distasteful!