Gigi Hadid has publicly spoken up for journalist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson after Kanye West hit out at the Vogue editor for her commentary on his Paris Fashion Week Yeezy show, which featured widely-condemned ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirts.
Taking to her Instagram Story after the show, Gabriella shared a text conversation with a friend as she unpicked her reaction to Kanye’s runway choices.
Initially, she wrote that she was “fuming” and described the show as “indefensible” before sharing that she felt Kanye’s vision was misguided.
“He was trying to illustrate a dystopian world when whiteness might become extinct or at least would be in enough danger to demand defence,” she said in the screenshots, adding: “But the danger is that, this very premise, the idea that white supremacy is in danger of extinction… is what justifies mass incarceration, murder on masse, indeed even the advent of slavery.”
“I guess I get what he was trying to do… he was trying to be a duchampion. It wasn’t. It didn’t land and it was deeply offensive, violent and dangerous,” she wrote.
Later she described the T-shirts as “pure violence”, adding: “There is no excuse, there is no art here. I do think if you asked Kanye, he would say there was art, and revolution, and all of the things in that T-shirt.”
Kanye responded by sharing a screenshot of Gabriella’s Instagram account as well as pictures of the editor, appearing to criticise her appearance. He also shared screenshots of messages from what’s thought to be his design director Mowalola Ogunlesi, who advised him: “I also don’t think you should insult that writer. You could actually have a real conversation about the tee.”
Gigi Hadid added her own comment to that particular post, writing to Kanye: “You wish u had a percentage of her intellect. You have no idea haha… If there’s actually a point to any of your shit she might be the only person that could save u. As if the ‘honour’ of being invited to your show should keep someone from giving their opinion..? Lol. You’re a bully and a joke.”
She later added on her Instagram Story: “I was trying very hard not to give that man air time, but publicly bullying someone who criticises your work on your massive platform is another level of ridiculousness to me. If you can’t take it don’t dish it. If you can’t take criticism, especially the smart, nuanced, and kind criticism that GKJ provided [after] yesterday’s show, then don’t put work out for public consumption.
“This is immature bully behaviour. It’s behaviour that we have all enabled by continuing to engage with this work for the sake of vitality, web traffic, mere curiosity, or whatever it is. Enough. It’s not smart. It’s not interesting. It’s not nuanced. It’s dangerous.”
Gigi described Gabriella Karefa-Johnson as “one of the most important voices in our industry,” and signed off by adding that she could “school that disgraceful man in more ways than he knows.”
GLAMOUR has reached out to Kanye West’s team for a comment. This page will be kept updated.