Shoe giant Adidas has pulled its controversial JS Roundhouse Mid shoe from production amid cries of racism.  Get the deets inside and decide if the "shackles" on the shoes remind you of slavery.

Adidas has announced that it pulled the controversial "JS Roundhouse Mid" shoe from its production line after folks said it reminded them of slavery.

The shoe, which would have been launched this August, was designed by the eclectic Jeremy Scott and featured plastic orange chains and a cuff that strapped around the ankles.  Although Adidas had posted a pic of the shoes on Facebook with the caption, “Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?,” some folks saw a reference to slavery and "shackles" when they viewed the shoes.  

Rev. Jesse Jackson told CNN, "The attempt to commercialize and make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive."

And Dr. Boyce Watkins posted on Your Black World, "I literally froze up when I saw a new design from Adidas set to hit stores in August."  He continued, 

"When I see the shoes, I also think about the ankle bracelets being worn by far too many men who are affected by the mass incarceration epidemic that the White House says nothing about. The black family has ripped itself apart because so man of our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons are locked away in prison, leading their children vulnerable to all the horrible things that happen when the man of the house is not away. I am offended by these shoes because there is nothing funny about the prison industrial complex, which is the most genocidal thing to happen to the black family since slavery itself."

After the uproar, the company issued a statement to the Daily News saying, "Since the shoe debuted on our Facebook page ahead of its market release in August, Adidas has received both favorable and critical feedback. We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace."  They added, 

"The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery.  Any suggestion that this is linked to slavery is untruthful.” 

So what do you think?  Did you see the "shackles" as a fashion forward statement or a reference to slavery?

SPEAK ON IT..........