Luxury cosmetic and perfumery brand Jo Malone London has distanced itself from founder and namesake Jo Malone over her son’s involvement in the pro-Palestine organisation at Harvard University.
Malone’s son Josh Willcox, 22, is an organiser for the Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee of Harvard (PSC), the group behind the now notorious anti-Israel letter posted last Saturday by students at the university.
The letter, cosigned by 33 student groups on campus, condemned Israel for the violent attacks by Hamas last week. “The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years,” the statement said.
The letter from PSC sparked waves of backlash from the Harvard community and beyond for neglecting to denounce Hamas’ violence against Israeli civilians. When social media users discovered Willcox’s participation in PSC via Harvard’s online directory of student organisations, many called for the boycott of the Jo Malone brand.
