Vogue misidentifies Muslim-American activist Noor Tagouri as Pakistani actress

Muslim-American journalist, activist and speaker Noor Tagouri was misidentified as Pakistani actress Noor Bukhari in American Vogue magazine’s February issue.

Tagouri had been anticipating a life-changing feature in Vogue after finding out months ago that she’d be included in the magazine’s February issue.

However, when she came across the publication on the shelves of John F Kennedy International Airport on Thursday, she turned the pages to find her pictures but when she read the text she realized that she had been misidentified as Pakistani actress Noor Bukhari.

Tagouri took to Instagram to post a video of her reaction and wrote, “I’m so heartbroken and devastated.”

“We finally found the issue in JFK airport. I hadn’t seen the photo or the text. Adam wanted to film my reaction to seeing this for the first time. But, as you can see in the video, I was misidentified as a Pakistani actress named Noor Bukhari. My name is Noor Tagouri, I’m a journalist, activist, and speaker,” she added.

“I have been misrepresented and misidentified multiple times in media publications — to the point of putting my life in danger. I never, ever expected this from a publication I respect so much and have read since I was a child.”

Tagouri pointed out that misidentification is “a constant problem if you are Muslim in America”. “And as much as I work to fight this, there are moments like this where I feel defeated,” she said.

The activist continued the conversation on Twitter and even posted an email she sent to Vogue to ensure that there wouldn’t be an issue with mislabeling.

Vogue soon issued an apology on its social media channels.

“We are sincerely sorry for the mistake. We were thrilled at the chance to photograph Tagouri and shine a light on the important work she does, and to have misidentified her is a painful misstep,” the post read. 

“We also understand that there is a larger issue of misidentification in media — especially among nonwhite subjects. We will try to be more thoughtful and careful in our work going forward, and we apologise for any embarrassment this has caused Tagouri and Bukhari," the magazine wrote.

Tagouri reposted the magazine’s apology and noted that people should “teach, grow, build” from these mistakes. “It isn’t always easy. But this is why we keep fighting.”