Cobham ‘racist image’: Former Chelsea star and Southbank Centre chair slam shop over plantation picture

A store has been criticised for having a “triggering and racist” image of a tobacco plantation being used to sell cigars.

Photographer and social activist Misan Harriman, who is chair of the Southbank Centre, shared footage of his visit to Farrants store in Cobham this week. He describes the “racist” image of “Black men, broken Black men” with their “overseers next to them”.

Harriman, 46, a family friend of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had gone into the store to buy toys for his kids and captured the heritage image which shows white colonialists alongside workers on a plantation.

“This is in a family store. This imagery is massively triggering and racist. And there is no conceivable reason it should be there. I’m so thankful I wasn’t with my girls,” he wrote on Twitter.

“How on earth could anyone have shopped there and found that image acceptable?

“This is exhausting and damaging to many people.”

The video has been viewed more than two million times.

On Twitter, England assistant football coach Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink responded to Harriman’s post, claiming he’d been previously told by the shop’s owner in 2020 that the image would be removed after he had complained about it.

Dutch footballer Floyd-Hasselbaink wrote: “Hi family and friends, I hope you’re all well. Can I ask for help in sharing this on all your social media profiles. This is our local newsagents and we’ve been fighting this for 3 years. It’s finally going to get some attention and the more who post the more it’ll make an impact.”

When LondonWorld contacted Farrants store, a representative said they “weren’t interested” and would not be making a comment.

Harriman was the first Black male photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover in September 2020.

He also captured a birthday portrait of the couple’s one-year-old daughter Lilibet’s birthday celebrations last year.

The Southbank Centre chair has also photographed Angelia Jolie, Jay-Z, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Giorgio Armani, Rhianna, Cate Blanchett and Olivia Colman.