Article content continued

It called the image and the post inappropriate and inexcusable, and apologized that one of its employees had been affiliated with promoting the offensive T-shirt.

Fleming did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters to seek comment. On his LinkedIn account, he said he worked at Lululemon up to April 2020.

Sluder did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Reports of racially charged assaults on Asians have grown since the pandemic first emerged in a market selling wildlife in China late last year, before spreading worldwide to infect 2.4 million people, with more than 169,000 deaths.

Early studies said the virus could have come from bats.

Before it was removed on Sunday, the post on Sluder’s Instagram account read, “Where did COVID-19 come from? Nothing is certain, but we know a bat was involved.”

It added, “Beginning today, my limited edition #quarantees are now available. Link in bio or DM for details…Thank you for your support and sense of humor! #humornothat #batfriedrice.”

However, in the following days, Instagram users left more than a thousand comments on Luluemon’s official account, accusing it of xenophobia.

China blocks Instagram within the country with what is known as its Great Firewall.

A separate statement posted on Lululemon’s official Weibo account on Tuesday did not apologize, but said the design was not a Lululemon product and the firm opposed “any discriminatory behaviors.”

It was not the first time Lululemon has faced criticism of being insensitive. In 2013, Chip Wilson, the founder of the cult yoga clothier, apologized for remarks suggesting that some women’s bodies “don’t work” in the brand’s pants.

(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser. )

(Reporting by Pei Li; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)