Gigi Hadid Slams Kanye West for Attacking Fashion Editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson: ‘You’re a Bully’
Kanye #Kanye
Gigi Hadid isn’t going to stand for Kanye West attacking one of her friends.
Following West’s Yeezy presentation at Paris Fashion Week, fashion editor and stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson — who was in attendance — shared her thoughts on the show on Instagram. In her Instagram Stories, she posted screenshots of messages she’d shared with friends that contained her concern with West including “White Lives Matter” apparel in the show.
West immediately started firing back at Karefa-Johnson, posting derisive comments about the editor. In posts that have since been deleted from his account, West shared pictures of Karefa-Johnson, including one where he claimed Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour would hate her boots.
In continuing with his tirade, West shared a screenshot of a text message from someone who urges him to not “insult that writer,” presumably meaning Karefa-Johnson. West didn’t include a caption on the photo but Hadid quickly came to the defense of Karefa-Johnson, whom she’s worked with in the past, including on Hadid’s March 2021 Vogue cover.
“You wish u had a percentage of her intellect,” Hadid wrote. “You have no idea haha…. If there’s actually a point to any of your s— she might be the only person that could save u. 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.”
She further added in her Instagram Story that Karefa-Johnson is “one of the most important voices” in the fashion industry and could “school that disgraceful man.”
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Karefa-Johnson shared another Instagram Story on Monday evening further discussing her issue with West’s show, writing, “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.”
She also called West’s shirts “incredibly irresponsible and dangerous” before asking people to have grace for those who experienced the “trauma” in the room where he showed his collection.
Karefa-Johnson, who is currently the fashion director at Garage, as well as a contributor to Vogue and a member of this year’s BoF500, initially shared a video from the Yeezy show on her Instagram Story, writing, “Here come the bulls—,” adding that she was “fuming” while taking in the show.
A rep for Karefa-Johnson has not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
At Monday night’s show, West sparked controversy in his black long-sleeve tee with its statement, which is considered a “hate slogan” by the Anti-Defamation League. The look could be seen on full display as the designer gave a speech during the opening of the presentation. It was also featured in an image uploaded to Twitter by conservative commentator Candace Owens — who wore the same shirt in white to the show. The front of the top featured Pope John Paul II and the words “Seguiremos Tu Ejemplo,” meaning “We Will Follow Your Example.”
During a speech before the event, West wore the shirt as he touched on classism in fashion, ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery, former manager Scooter Braun telling him he needed to “make more money” by continuing his 2016 Saint Pablo Tour, and the fact that the tour’s cancellation is a moment that he feels will be brought up “for the rest of my life.”
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“It’s the ultimate stigma,” he said. “People feel like they have the right to come to my face and call me crazy. Like it doesn’t hurt my feelings. Or like, you don’t have to be crazy in order to change the world.”
In West’s attack on Karefa-Johnson, others have also come to her defense, including Supreme creative director Tremaine Emory. Not only did he post a picture of the stylist and editor on Instagram Tuesday with the caption, “Beautiful,” but he also fired back at West for his comments.
Emory specifically called out West bringing up late fashion designer Virgil Abloh’s name in his tirade of playing the “victim campaign.”
“YOU ARE SO BROKEN. KEEP VIRGIL NAME OUT YOUR MOUTH…KEEP @gabriellak_j NAME OUT YOUR MOUTH…Your not a victim your just an insecure narcissist that’s dying for validation from the fashion world…take care,” he wrote.
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