A few years back, someone (I have even forgotten who) told me that Tommy Hilfiger said, "If I have known that Filipinos would be wearing my clothes, I would have burned them myself."

     Being a Filipino, I felt the need to take a stand and declare war . I refused to buy anything that had Tommy Hilfiger written in it including the cheap imitations from China. When a friend from Holland told me that she was looking for Tommy Hilfiger shirts (it was cheaper to buy them in the Philippines), I told her about Hilfiger's arrogant statement. Yes, to my shame, I did my part to spread the "bad news" about Hilfiger.

     Last July, I received this forwarded email:

     "I'm sure many of you watched the recent taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show where her guest was Tommy Hilfiger. On the show, Oprah asked him if he had said, 'If I had known African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews and Asians would buy my clothes, I would not have made them so nice. I wish these people would not buy my clothes, as they are made for upper-class white people.' His answer to Oprah was a simple 'Yes' when she asked him, and she then immediately asked him to leave her show."

   No, I did not see this particular episode of the Oprah show, but having heard this rumor years back, I swallowed it hook, line and sinker. As fas as I was concerned, this was nothing new. What was news to me was that he had now added African Americans, Jews and Hispanics to his list.

     Fortunately, I did not forward this email to others.

     A few days later, while we were driving home from a trip to Cincinnati, I mentioned this to my husband. He was very surprised. I was surprised that he was surprised ! I thought everyone knew what a #%$# Tommy Hilfiger was. 

     Thankfully, I have a level headed husband who does not believe anything unless he has done some research. This was no exception. Two days later, he drew my attention to this website:

 http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200705/20070502/slide_20070502_350_101.jhtml .

     I have not regularly watched the Oprah show this past two years so I did not know that she had Tommy Hilfiger in her show to clear this vicious rumor. Needless to say, I  felt embarassed and guilty. Can you imagine the years I spent being angry at Tommy Hilfiger!!! No I don't know him personally but because he said something  degrading (or so I thought) against my tribe, that meant war!

     Thanks to David, I learned a very important lesson that day, and yes, next time I will treat these things with great caution.

     Since I made myself a part of this rumor mongering against an innocent man, I decided to put this in my blog. I know Tommy will not be reading this . I am simply writing this here to redeem myself. Hopefully, the next time this rumor starts spreading over the internet again anyone reading this can say, "That's a big fat lie."

     Am I glad that I can now wear clothes byTommy Hilfiger . That is, of course, when I can afford one .  Paging Tommy Hilfiger: I wish you will stumble into this blog, read it and send me a complimentary t-shirt (yup, I will accept a lecture ).

     Happy Thanksgiving everyone!