| Seija Rankin 6. April 2015 – 15:42
It’s safe to say Nicole Kidman has had better days.
The actress is under fire for her latest gig, and people are not happy. The Oscar winner recently began appearing in advertisements for Etihad Airways, which is owned by the United Arab Emirates. The ad shows Kidman dressed to the nines and kicking back in one of the airline’s luxury suites, and now she’s catching some major flack for the deal.
As it turns out, the airline has been accused of some pretty disappointing (and anti-woman) business practices—things like firing female employees for becoming pregnant and forcing flight attendants to live in confined spaces. The partnership between Kidman and Etihad has been ruffling some feathers, and now the Association of Professional Flight Attendants has issued a statement to Nicole.
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“We urge you, on behalf of the women and girls that you spoke of so eloquently [on International Women’s Day], not to play a part in promoting Etihad Airways, a company that imposes abusive labor practices on its female employees and whose sole owner is a government that stands against the very world that you imagine,” the group wrote. “The APFA — a union that represents 25,000 flight attendants, including nearly 19,000 female crewmembers — has long been a leading voice on the issue of discriminatory labor practices in our industry. We would gladly welcome your voice to our effort.”
The group did praise the actress for all of the work she’s done as a U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador, but said that this latest project just doesn’t jibe with her previous efforts.
Etihad itself decided to issue a response, saying, “Our commitment to the welfare, safety and well-being of the diverse group of men and women who have worked so hard to make Etihad Airways great is one of our airline’s top priorities.”
The two groups aren’t the only ones jumping into the debate—Twitter is on it, too, where a contingent is coming to her defense.
For now the partnership still stands, but this probably won’t be the last we hear of it. America does love a controversy!
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