--- description: Priyanka Chopra has apologized for wearing a shirt that has been blasted as insensitive to refugees in a photo on a magazine cover. title: Priyanka Chopra Apologizes for Controversial Refugee Shirt image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9de6c30f54342ef/6988aa3ea988ca44806b9c5b/91949624_condnasttravellerindia6thanniversarycoverfeaturingpriyankachop.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Priyanka Chopra Apologizes for Controversial Refugee Shirt  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 17, 2016 3:41 PM CUT  Priyanka Chopra Priyanka ChopraCondé Nast  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 17, 2016 3:41 PM CUT Priyanka Chopra has [apologized](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37676903 "undefined") for wearing a shirt that has been blasted as insensitive to refugees in a photo that appeared on a magazine cover. Chopra appeared on the sixth anniversary cover of _Condé Nast Traveller_‘s India edition in a shirt that had the words “refugee,” “immigrant,” and “outsider” crossed out, leaving the word “traveller” at the bottom of the list. After people criticized the shirt for being insensitive to the plight of refugees, Chopra told Indian news NDTV that she didn’t mean to offend, BBC reports. “I’m really apologetic about sentiments being hurt. I have always been against labels. I am very affected and feel really horrible, but the message has been misconstrued,” [Chopra said](http://www.ndtv.com/video/news/news/immigrant-refugee-t-shirt-feel-horrible-says-priyanka-chopra-to-ndtv-435259 "undefined"). “The magazine was very clear that they wanted to send a message about addressing xenophobia with labels.” When the cover was revealed last week, the shirt [sparked criticism](http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/is-this-message-on-priyanka-s-t-shirt-offensive-or-do-people-just-don-t-get-it/story-wYbn8g0vXrxbIvV5jdQ5wN.html "undefined") on social media, leading to a debate on whether it was offensive._Condé Nast Traveller_ [released a statement](http://www.cntraveller.in/story/message-behind-6th-anniversary-issue-cover/ "undefined") in defense of the cover choice, noting that the magazine created the T-shirt to make a statement against xenophobia. “Whether we are moving across oceans or just a few kilometres, or in our mind’s eye, into a completely different world, whether we are doing so due to free will or circumstance—we are all travellers,” the statement said. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37676903 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4533229/priyanka-chopra-apologizes-refugee-shirt-magazine-cover/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4533229/priyanka-chopra-apologizes-refugee-shirt-magazine-cover/"},"headline":"Priyanka Chopra Apologizes for Controversial Refugee Shirt","datePublished":"2016-10-17T15:41:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:14:02.695Z","description":"The actor's shirt was blasted as being insensitive to refugees","url":"https://time.com/4533229/priyanka-chopra-apologizes-refugee-shirt-magazine-cover/","keywords":["celebrities","Refugees","Travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9de6c30f54342ef/6988aa3ea988ca44806b9c5b/91949624_condnasttravellerindia6thanniversarycoverfeaturingpriyankachop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9de6c30f54342ef/6988aa3ea988ca44806b9c5b/91949624_condnasttravellerindia6thanniversarycoverfeaturingpriyankachop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"_91949624_condnasttravellerindia6thanniversarycoverfeaturingpriyankachop","caption":"Priyanka Chopra","creditText":"Condé Nast","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4533229/priyanka-chopra-apologizes-refugee-shirt-magazine-cover/","name":"Priyanka Chopra Apologizes for Controversial Refugee Shirt"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME 100: Priyanka Chopra","description":"Priyanka Chopra on Breaking out of the Bollywood Stereotype","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mxwifpoU/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-15T15:59:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mxwifpoU.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4533229/priyanka-chopra-apologizes-refugee-shirt-magazine-cover/","duration":"PT4M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4533229/priyanka-chopra-apologizes-refugee-shirt-magazine-cover/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```