Photo illustration: clipping. Images: Getty Images
It all started with Ye’s “White Lives Matter” T-shirtswhich characterizes the logo – classify it as “hate speech” Anti-Defamation League On the back is a drawing of Pope John Paul II on the front. Yi himself wore the matching shirt by guest Candice Owens at his YZY 9 show during Paris Fashion Week. The message caused editors and others to leave to speak out against the offensive phrase online.
Written by Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, designer and Vogue magazine Contributing Editor, on her Instagram Stories along with a video of a black model wearing the T-shirt on the runway. Untenable behaviour. She expanded her ideas in later stories, writing in part that while she believed she understood Yi’s intentions—”he thought they were evil”—she did not believe they were effective. “He was trying to explain a dystopian world in the future when whitewashing will be extinct or at least be in sufficient danger to claim a defence,” she wrote in messages to a friend, captured on screen and shared on Instagram. “But the danger is that it is this very premise, the idea that white supremacy is in danger of extinction, that justifies mass incarceration, mass murder, and even the emergence of slavery,” she continued in her letters. To add more context to the messages in her stories, she described the shirt as “extremely offensive, violent and dangerous”.
Then Ye started an untenable bullying campaign against Gabriella Kareva Johnsonon instagram. In one since-deleted post, which included a photo of what appears to be the fashion designer outside, You wrote, “This is not a fashion person you’re talking about on Ye Ima, ask Trevor Noah.” Then post a file Close up of her shoes and bring it Vogue magazineAnna Wintour, writes, “I know Anna endorses these shoes.” Wintour, coincidentally, was on YZY and has yet to personally comment publicly on Ye’s behavior.
But Gigi Hadid has it. She commented on one of his many posts, sticking to Johnson’s generosity: “I wish you had a percentage of her intelligence. You have no idea,” I wrote. “If there really was a point to any of the nonsense, you might be the only one who could save you. As if the ‘honour’ of inviting you to your show should prevent someone from giving their opinion..? Lol. You bully and a joke.” Hadid also shared her support for Kareva Johnson on her Instagram Stories, calling her “one of the most important voices in our industry” who can “teach that shameless man in more ways than he knows.”
Others spoke as well. Hailey Bieber posted on Instagram Stories, “GKJ ALL DAY, EVERYDAY. My respect for you deepens my friend!” Yi also posted a message, presumably from fashion designer Mualula Ogunlisi, imploring him to have a “real conversation” about the shirt instead of attacking Kareva-Johnson.
Yi also targeted Bernard Arnault, the man who heads LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, among other luxury brands. “Can’t we talk about more important things like how late the show or how Bernard Arnault killed my best friend?” he wrote In a separate post, he apparently refers to Virgil Abloh. “Everyone has the right to their opinion, and this is my opinion.” Senior Creative Director Tremaine Emory shared Ye’s post on his own Instagram page, describing it as, “I have to draw the line on you using Virgil’s death in ‘ye’ is the victim campaign in front of the fawning Peanuts Algorithm gallery,” he wrote. That Ye once told Yeezy employees that “Virgil’s designs are a disgrace to the black community,” indicating that they were not as close as Ye insisted. “Tell the people why you weren’t invited to Virgil’s actual funeral,” he wrote, concluding by saying: Keep the name Virgil out of your mouth…Keep the name gabriellak_j out of your mouth.”
Things got even more difficult later on Tuesday, when Yi posted another photo of Carva Johnson, claiming the two met in private to hash things out. “Gap my sister,” he wrote in the caption. “I don’t let people go to bed thinking I haven’t met Gabriel at 5pm today for two hours and then we went to dinner at Verdi.” It is also alleged that Wintour arranged for Australian film director Baz Luhrmann to film their meeting. he completed:
We apologized that the way we presented everyone else felt that we had actually managed to reconcile and experienced the struggle for acceptance in a world that is not ours.
I was upset because I was afraid
At least we love Verdi and fashion
Vogue magazine She finally reached out to Karefa-Johnson’s defense on Tuesday, confirming in an Instagram post that she had indeed met Ye:
Vogue stands with Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, our longtime global fashion editor and contributor. She was personally targeted and intimidated. It is not acceptable. Now more than ever, voices like hers are needed and in a private meeting with Ye today, she once again spoke her truth in a way that she felt was best, on her own terms.
This article has been updated.
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