Kim Kardashian has said that she is “re-evaluating” her relationship with fashion house Balenciaga in the wake of its questionable campaign images being called out online.
In a series of tweets, Kim K said that she was “shaken” by the campaigns but had remained silent for a few days to have an opportunity to speak to the company’s team.
I have been quiet for the past few days, not because I haven’t been disgusted and outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns, but because I wanted an opportunity to speak to their team to understand for myself how this could have happened.
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) November 27, 2022
The ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ star said that she would base her decision on whether to continue working with the brand on its “willingness to accept accountability for something that should never have happened to being with — & and the actions I am expecting to see them take to protect children.”
She also added:
“As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images. The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.”
The relatively milquetoast statement from the influencer should hardly be surprising. Kardashian became the face of Balenciaga in February this year and had been working with the brand for a fair while longer.
Balenciaga has filed a lawsuit against production company North Six, which managed the logistics for its Spring 23 campaign which featured court documents from the US which prohibited the pandering of child pornography. It is also suing set designed Nicholas Des Jardins over the campaigns.
Her ex-husband, Kanye West (now known as Ye), also continued to work with Balenciaga following the couple’s divorce, producing a line of clothes for GAP in collaboration with Demna Gvasalia, the brand’s creative director.
However the now-disgraced rapper and designer has been issuing dog whistle-laden statements about the incident.
“We saw Adidas freeze my accounts… and you think, if that can happen to someone like me, what can happen to all of America, what’s happening to all of the world? If you have an opinion, if you speak up, there are so many people, they’re working a regular job and if they say anything to their manager then they’ll lose their position, they’ll lose their job,” he said.
“They tried to destroy me in press, they tried to destroy all of my businesses at the same time and the world saw it and no one is saying anything. This just shows you that all the celebrities are controlled, you don’t see no celebrities talking about the Balenciaga situation, so that just shows you that all these celebrities out here, don’t let them control you in any way because they’re controlled by the people who really influence the world.”
Of course, Ye is not entirely wrong. A host of celebrities work with Balenciaga — ranging from Dua Lipa to Naomi Campbell and Nicole Kidman — none of whom have spoken out about the campaign.
However, the assertion that “they’re controlled by the people who really influence the world” is a classic anti-Semitic trope.
