Getty Images has come under fire after confusing Kelly Marie Tran with Olympian Mirai Nagasu on the Oscars red carpet.
American stock photo agency Getty Images has come under fire after mixing up Star Wars: The Last Jedi actress Kelly Marie Tran with Olmypian Mirai Nagasu on the Oscars red carpet
Both women were wearing similar coloured dresses but are clearly two very different individuals.
In a picture of Tran at the Oscars taken by Getty Images, the photo agency wrote in the caption, “Mirai Nagasu attends the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4 2018 in Hollywood, California.”
Similarly under a picture of Nagasu, Getty Image wrote in the caption, “Kelly Mariet Tran attends the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4 2018 in Hollywood, California.”
Many were quick to pick up on the gaffe on Twitter. “Y’all cannot be serious right now,” wrote one Twitter user. “Mixing up Kelly Marie Tran and Mirai Nagasu in photo captions because they’re both Asian and both in blue dresses???”
“*sees that the media can’t tell Kelly Marie Tran and Mirai Nagasu apart*,” wrote another. “*shakes head* NOT TODAY SATAN.”
“Mirai Nagasu and Kelly Marie Tran keep getting captioned as each other because Asian American girls in blue dresses all look same or whatever,” commented another Twitter user.
Y’all cannot be serious right now. Mixing up Kelly Marie Tran and Mirai Nagasu in photo captions because they’re both Asian and both in blue dresses??? pic.twitter.com/dOjWb2mNBK
— Angel (@angelcwrites) March 5, 2018
*sees that the media can’t tell Kelly Marie Tran and Mirai Nagasu apart*
*shakes head*
NOT TODAY SATAN.
— Courtney!!! Milan (@courtneymilan) March 5, 2018
Still can’t believe the media mixed up Kelly Marie Tran and Mirai Nagasu. Oh wait, I can. Goes to show white people often think we look the same. There are even times when I’ve been confused with other Asian American publishing professionals I look nothing like. #OscarsFail pic.twitter.com/BvGbJi3XRn
— Penny Moore (@precociouspenny) March 5, 2018
Mirai Nagasu and Kelly Marie Tran keep getting captioned as each other because Asian American girls in blue dresses all look same or whatever
— Erin (@solcelo) March 5, 2018
They did the same with Kelly… pic.twitter.com/5kHjjiVR8G
— Laura (@lsirikul) March 4, 2018
In a statement, Getty Images said, “Getty Images sincerely apologizes for the images of Kelly Marie Tran that incorrectly identified her as Olympian Mirai Nagasu and was licensed by customers who trusted the accuracy of the caption information.”
“Getty Images holds itself to a high standard of editorial integrity and has robust measures in place to ensure our content ingestion process upholds these standards. We, like all news agencies, regret when these measures fail to capture an error.”
“We distribute the work of a number of excellent image partners who are also covering major events such as The Oscars and as soon as the caption error was brought to our attention, the caption was amended and the correct images provided to our customers.”
“We apologize to Ms Tran and Ms Nagasu for this error and meant no disrespect.”
However, Nagasu seemed to take the gaffe lightly. “This is my sister! Asian representation,” she said. “We got the memo,” she added referencing their similar dresses.