Vogue is standing by its staff, as the publication released an official statement on Instagram after its global fashion editor was bullied by Kanye West, now known as Ye.
The publication said that it will continue to stand with Gabriella Karefa-Johnson after she was targeted by the famous rapper. E!Online reports thag Karefa-Johnson disapproved of the “White Lives Matter” shirt that was shown during the Yeezy presentation at Paris Fashion Week.
In a statement posted on social media, the company found West’s actions to be unacceptable and that the world needs more voices like hers.
“Vogue stands with Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, our global fashion editor at large and longtime contributor. She was personally targetted and bullied. It is unacceptable. Now more than ever, voices like hers are needed and in a private meeting with Ye today she once against spoke her truth in a way she felt best, on her terms.”
Ye shared a response on Instagram, saying that he and Karefa-Johnson spoke for two hours. He claimed that they both apologized and agreed to disagree. He also stated that she didn’t speak on behalf of her company and he believed that she was “being used”.
“I’m not letting people go to bed thinking I didn’t meet with Gabrielle at 5 PM today for 2 hours then we went to dinner at ferdie. Anna had Baz Luhrmann film our meeting and we are editing tonight. We took pics and I was instructed to not post them.
“It felt like she 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.
“We apologized to each other for the way we made each other feel we actually got along and have both experienced the fight for acceptance in a world that’s not our own. She disagreed I disagreed we disagreed.
“At least we both love ferdie and fashion.”
Other celebrities, such as Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Jaden Smith slammed Ye for the shirts and the alleged bullying towards Karefa-Johnson.
