Vogue & More Drop Kanye Following His Anti-Semitic Remarks: Report
A Vogue spokesperson told Page Six Friday (Oct.21) that “neither the magazine nor its editor-in-chief Anna Wintour intends to work with Kanye West again after his anti-Semitic rants and support for the White Lives Matter cause.”
“Anna has had enough,” an insider told the tabloid. “She has made it very clear inside Vogue that Kanye is no longer part of the inner circle.”
The rapper-turned-entrepreneur was also recently dropped from Balenciaga, a luxury French fashion brand that he has had a relationship with for almost 10 years. Balenciaga’s parent company Kering announced that the French fashion house would no longer be working with Kanye on Friday (Oct. 21). “Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” Kering said in a statement to Women’s Wear Daily. No other further details were added to the statement.
Per Rolling Stone, in a since-deleted Instagram post on Oct. 17, Balenciaga issued a statement. “West’s runway look from Balenciaga’s Spring 2023 show at Paris Fashion Week had been deleted from Vogue Runway, as well as the Balenciaga website.”
Additionally, they also “removed a section on its website dedicated to the three Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collaborations, which launched earlier this year. Those items were also no longer available on other online retailers.”
Vogue has not made it clear what this will mean in practice for Kanye. He might never appear on the magazine’s sites, or physical cover (including his clothing) again or at the very least he won’t be welcomed to the exclusive Met Gala event held every year.
In addition to Vogue and Balenciaga no longer willing to work with the rapper, the agency that represented Kanye for touring has also dropped him, Deadline reports. CAA signed West in 2016 and only represented the artist for touring. He has not toured since his signing.
This follows Camille Vasquez — Johnny Depp’s attorney in his defamation trial against Amber Heard– reportedly cut ties with the rapper, Page Six reports. Vasquez told her firm, Brown Rudnick, that she would not be willing to represent the rapper due to his anti-Semitic remarks. Rudnick was still willing to represent West if he retracted his statements, but after his apology for the anti-Semitic remarks, Ye put himself under fire once again. On Friday (Oct. 21) Ye held an impromptu press conference outside his daughter North’s basketball game and said, “I want to talk about the Jewish comment, it’s actually proven the exact point that I made,” per the outlet.
“It’s going to take all of us to come together. We gotta get the truth before we can get the love, if not we are just loving the lies.”
He continued, “They never expected someone to have the platform. It’s not that anyone is afraid, they’re afraid of us not being afraid anymore. They can’t use all the tactics. I’m talking about my life has been threatened for having a political opinion. To wear the wrong color hat or the audacity of me as a Black man to have a White Lives Matter T-shirt. I’ve seen white people wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts. it’s pretty one-sided if you think about it.”
Kanye’s documentary has also been scrapped, Variety confirms. Studio executives Modi Wiczyk, Asif Satchu, and Scott Tenley from MRC announced in a memo on Monday (Oct. 24).
“This morning, after discussion with our filmmakers and distribution partners, we made the decision not to proceed with any distribution for our recently completed documentary about Kanye West. We cannot support any content that amplifies his platform,” they wrote. “Kanye is a producer and sampler of music. Last week he sampled and remixed a classic tune that has charted for over 3,000 years — the lie that Jews are evil and conspire to control the world for their own gain.”
They added: “The silence from leaders and corporations when it comes to Kanye or antisemitism in general is dismaying but not surprising. What is new and sad, is the fear Jews have about speaking out in their own defense.”
Ye has not responded yet to the announcements of Vogue, CAA, Camille Vasquez, and MRC dropping the rapper.
