Globally renowned magazine Vogue misidentified Muslim-American journalist Noot Tagouri as Pakistani actress Noor Bukhari in its February issue.
The Libyan American activist took to Instagram to share her feelings on the gaffe that American Vogue had made.
In an emotional post Tagouri wrote, “I’m so heartbroken and devastated. I have been misrepresented and misidentified multiple times in media publications — to the point of putting my life in danger. I never, ever expected this from a publication I respect so much and have read since I was a child.”
Tagouri had been expecting a life-altering feature on her struggles and achievements by Vogue only to find out that the publication had misrepresented her as actress Noor Bukhari.
Tagouri further stated that misidentification is “a constant problem if you are Muslim in America,” and is among the obstacles that she continually faces through her work as an activist. With this latest incident, she wrote that she feels “defeated.”
However, Tagouri continued to strike a discourse on Twitter to educate people on the occurrence and even wrote an email to Vogue to ensure that there wouldn’t be an issue with mislabelling.
The publication shortly after addressing the matter issued an apology to Tagouri on its social media channels.
“We were thrilled at the chance to photograph Tagouri and shine a light on the important work she does, and to have misidentified her is a painful misstep. We also understand that there is a larger issue of misidentification in media—especially among nonwhite subjects,” read the post.