HomeEntertainmentGigi Hadid wades into fashion week bullying row

Gigi Hadid wades into fashion week bullying row

DUBAI: US rapper Kanye West sparked controversy at Paris Fashion Week by wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at his runway show — and now US Palestinian Dutch model Gigi Hadid is wading into the ensuing debate.

The model made a statement via Instagram Stories showing support for Vogue US fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who slammed West over his choice of attire.

Karefa-Johnson shared her thoughts on social media following the rapper’s show.

Kanye West at Paris Fashion Week. (AFP)

“It didn’t land and it was deeply offensive, violent, and dangerous,” she wrote in a series of IG story slides that featured screenshots of her conversation with someone else about Kanye’s shirt. “The idea that white supremacy is in danger of extinction is what justifies mass incarceration, murder en masse, indeed the advent of slavery,” she added.

In true Kanye style, the rapper reacted with an online attack on Karefa-Johnson and posted pictures of her, shared a screenshot of her Instagram account and critiqued her fashion choices in a series of potshots aimed at the editor.

But models are showing support for Karefa-Johnson, with the likes of Hadid and Hailey Bieber voicing their concerns over West’s reaction.

“As if the ‘honor’ of being invited to your show should keep someone from giving their opinion? Lol. You’re a bully and a joke (sic),” Hadid wrote.

“You wish you had a percentage of her intellect… If there’s actually a point to any of your s***, she might be the only person that could save you,” the model added, referring to West’s new sartorial offerings.

Vogue US also released a statement in support of Karefa-Johnson.

“She was personally targeted and bullied. It is unacceptable. 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 she felt best, on her terms,” the magazine posted on Instagram, referring to West by his legal name, Ye.

For her part, Bieber wrote “my respect for you runs deep my friend!” in a comment on Karefa-Johnson’s Instagram account.

Meanwhile, Karefa-Johnson shared an updated statement following the online furor, saying “there is no excuse, there is no art here. I’m sorry I failed to make that clear — I thought I did… I do think if you asked Kanye, he’d say there was art, and revolution, and all of the things in that T-shirt. There isn’t.”

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