If Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, believed he was immune to cancel culture, then his recent encounter with Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson was a sobering moment.
Ye apologises to Gabriella Karefa-Johnson: Here’s what he said
In an Instagram post that could be deleted soon — it’s a ‘Kanye’ thing — the Yeezy founder referred to Karefa-Johnson as his sister, hours after he’d lambasted her fashion sense.
“I’m not letting people go to bed thinking I didn’t meet with Gabrielle at [17:00] today for [two] hours then we went to dinner at [Ferdi],” Ye wrote.
West revealed he and ‘Gabby’ put their differences aside and enjoyed an engaging conversation about their contrasting views on the polarising ‘White Lives Matter’ expression he exhibited at his pop-up Yeezy Season 9 show at Paris Fashion Week.
The meeting, Ye added, was commissioned by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, and filmed by Baz Luhrmann, an acclaimed Australian filmmaker who directed the Elvis movie.
In an attempt to clarify his ill-timed choices that sparked the widespread outrage, Ye claimed he felt Karefa-Johnson was being used “like Trevor Noah and other black people to speak on my expression.”
“She expressed that her company did not instruct her to speak on my t shirt expression,” he said.
According to Ye, the conversation ended in disagreement but “at least we both love [Ferdi] and fashion.”
‘Vogue’ stands with Gabriella in statement
Following a heap of backlash targeted at West for cyberbullying Karefa-Johnson, who described his ‘White Lives Matter’ presentation as “deeply offensive, violent and dangerous,” Vogue issued a statement showing support to their “global fashion editor at large and longtime contributor.”
“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 wrote.
The drama all started when Karefa-Johnson gave her critique on Ye’s Season 9 installation, lambasting the ‘White Lives Matter’ t-shirts as “pure violence”
“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. As we all work through the trauma of this moment, especially those of us who suffered in that room, let’s have some grace for one another,” Karefa-Johnson wrote in one of her critiques.
Ye clearly disapproved and went for the jugular. In a since-deleted Instagram post, the Yeezy founder blasted the Vogue editor, claiming she was not a fashion person.
“You speak on Ye Ima speak on you Ask Trevor Noah,” he added.
For many of his detractors who, over the years, have endured Ye’s polarising spats, this was the last straw. The likes of Gigi Hadid, Dave Free, Jaden Smith, Supreme chief executive Tremaine Emory turned up the heat with scathing reactions.
Perhaps, the most poignant response to Ye’s ‘White Lives Matter’ moment came from former TMZ reporter Van Lathan. In a comment posted on Instagram, Lathan explained why the gall of Kanye West wearing that t-shirt was hard to stomach.
“We don’t need a reminder of the worth of white lives. America is a shrine to the worth of white people. This message is reactionary to a message affirming Black lives, which have never been worth anything in America.
“In its intent, it’s a white supremacist notion, because it posits that we can’t have a conversation about the worth of black people without having a conversation about the worth of white people, which is f***** insane. The notion that it ALWAYS has to be about white people in America is incredibly frustrating, emotionally draining, and the whole problem. But here’s Kanye, apparently centring that notion,” he said.
