One of his designs is being slammed as “inappropriate” and “insensitive.”
Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, is no stranger to controversy. From accusing Kim Kardashian of trying to “kidnap” their daughter Chicago on her fourth birthday to publicly mocking his ex-wife’s then-boyfriend, Pete Davidson, so badly that the comedian had to enter trauma therapy, the rapper and fashion designer has been making the headlines lately, and not exactly for positive press. Now he’s back in the hot seat after his YZY 9 show at Paris Fashion Week is being met with backlash. Here’s what went down at the show and why people are upset.
What happened at Kanye’s Paris Fashion Week show?
Kanye West decided to hold a surprise fashion show for his new YZY collection, SZN9, a little over two weeks after terminating his partnership with Gap. The show took place Monday evening near the Arc de Triomphe, and some big fashion names were in attendance: Anna Wintour, John Galliano, and Balenciaga CEO Cédric Charbit, to name a few.
Ye’s show opened with a choir of children (his daughter North being among them) serenading the spectators, followed by a six-minute speech in which Ye said, among other things, “You can’t manage me. This is an unmanageable situation,” (perhaps a reference to his 2018 viral tweet in which he declared, “I no longer have a manager. I can’t be managed.”). He also said that Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LMVH, is his “new Drake” — a nod to the fact that West and the Toronto rapper have long had a fraught relationship. (Arnault’s son, Alexandre, the CMO of Tiffany & Company, was at the show.) He also railed against people who complained about his shows being late.
But the veiled barbs weren’t what really caused controversy. In addition to puffy coats with no buttons, zippers, or snaps and full-body catsuits, Ye sent a shirt emblazoned with the words “White Lives Matter” on the back down the runway. Ye himself was wearing a black shirt with the same message on the back; the front contained an image of Pope John Paul II and the words “Seguiremos tu ejemplo” (which translates to “we will follow your example”). Conservative commentator Candace Owens posted a photo of herself at the event, standing next to Ye, wearing the same shirt in white.
What’s the problem with saying White Lives Matter?
The phrase “white lives matter” emerged as a response to the Black Lives Matter hashtag and movement, which was started as a protest of police brutality against Black people in America. The phrase “White Lives Matter” is classified by the Anti-Defamation League as hate speech, and the Southern Poverty Law Center calls those who’ve rallied behind it a “neo-Nazi group that is growing into a movement.” (The phrase has been used by white supremacist groups, including the KKK.)
What’s been the response to the show?
Although Ye had a supporter in Candace Owens, others made their displeasure known. The New York Times reports that Jaden Smith walked out of the show, as did Lynette Nylander, executive editorial director at Dazed Media. The following day at the Chanel show, Edward Enninful, the editor for British Vogue, said the shirt was “inappropriate” and “insensitive, given the state of the world.” Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, contributing editor at Vogue, wrote on Instagram that it was “indefensible behavior,” adding, “there is no excuse, there is no art here.” Ye responded by attacking the editor on Instagram and criticizing her style in since-deleted posts. Gigi Hadid stepped in, calling West “a bully and a joke” and saying, “You wish u had a percentage of her intellect.” Others in the media space have also rallied around Karefa-Johnson.
This isn’t the first time West has made a statement that was perceived as harmful by members of the Black community. In May 2018, he remarked that slavery was “a choice”; a few months later, he apologized for the remarks. In July 2020, he said at a campaign event in South Carolina that Harriet Tubman “never actually freed the slaves.” (At the same event, West acknowledged his previous penchant for wearing a MAGA hat, saying it was “a very, very hurtful moment, after previously telling the former president in 2018 that wearing it made him “feel like Superman.”)
West was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016 after being hospitalized for a psychiatric emergency. He opened up about his struggles with mental health in a 2019 interview with David Letterman, saying, “If you don’t take medication every day to keep you at a certain state, you have the potential to ramp up, and it can even take you to a point where you can even end up in the hospital.” Last month on GMA, he publicly apologized to Kim Kardashian, saying, “This is the mother of my children, and I apologize for any stress that I have caused, even in my frustration,” seemingly alluding to his inflammatory social media posts. West has deleted all but four of his Instagram posts, including one whose caption concludes with, “EVERYONE’S GOT A RIGHT TO AN OPINION RIGHT THERE’S MINE.”
