Zayn Malik erroneously appears as face of black history month campaign

Talk about mistaken identity.

The University of Kent’s students’ union is under fire after using an image of pop star Zayn Malik as part of its black history month campaign. The half-English, half-Pakistani singer, formerly of the music group One Direction, is pictured singing in the poster. The words “black history month” appear next to his birth year and name.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is also of Pakistani descent, was featured in the awareness campaign, too.

Both Malik and Khan were born in the U.K.

The U.K.’s official Black History Month organization was understandably upset with the glaring errors made by the students’ union based in Canterbury, England.

“With Asian Heritage Month being observed by a growing number of countries in May, will Black icons be celebrated by Kent University then,” the organization tweeted Tuesday.

“Deeply disappointed at @KentUnion’s ill thought and misdirected Black History Month celebrations,” another tweet read.

The University of Kent’s students’ union president, Rory Murray, wrote a Facebook post published Tuesday to apologize for the major flubs. He noted the campaign was run and voted on by 2,000 volunteers.

“The Black History Month calendar of events was led and run by these students and supported by the organization,” Murray said. “The activity for the month was decided by open meetings attended by black and minority ethnic students.”

Despite the explanation, some of the online commenters weren’t having it.

“2,000 volunteers and no one thought to point out that Zayn isn’t black,” remarked Marika Shantadze.

Well, maybe they will get it right next year.