Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson speaks out amid Kanye West drama
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson is breaking her silence after being attacked by Kanye West.
The Vogue editor and stylist, who was ridiculed by the rapper after she criticized the “White Lives Matter” T-shirts he included in his Yeezy show during Paris Fashion Week, took to her Instagram Stories Tuesday night to thank those who supported her through the ordeal.
“Today literally said ‘Hiiiii-yah!’ *roundhouse kick to the face, very Mortal Kombat,” Karefa-Johnson wrote.
“Your girl has been through it! I’m exhausted, but I am so moved by and grateful for the outpouring of love I’ve received (here and elsewhere) over the last 24 hours. I feel so blessed to belong to a community that would show up for me like this.”
The 30-year-old style star continued, “One thing about me: I will always speak my mind, and always try to honor my truth. My thoughts are my own, and I stand by them. Thank you all for supporting me in that.”
Indeed, Karefa-Johnson didn’t shy away from sharing her thoughts on West’s controversial design choices while sitting front row at his fashion show Monday.
The acclaimed editor shared a video of her live reaction to the “White Lives Matter” shirts on social media, calling them “pure violence.”
“There is no excuse, there is no art here,” she said at the time. “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.”
Her criticism didn’t sit well with West, who went on to publicly bash Karefa-Johnson’s style on his Instagram.
“This is not a fashion person,” West captioned a since-deleted photo of the editor wearing brown boots, a striped knit skirt, a yellow graphic T-shirt and a corduroy trench coat with a bright blue Balenciaga purse.
In a separate post, he zoomed in on the boots and wrote, “I KNOOOOOW ANNA HAAAATES THESE BOOTS,” referring to Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.
Although West claimed he and Karefa-Johnson had an hours-long meeting on Tuesday evening and “actually got along,” the stylist received a wave of body-shaming comments following the rapper’s mocking remarks.
“I’ve fielded some serious volatility over the last couple days but nothing has been quite as bad as what people have said about my body and the way I look,” Karefa-Johnson wrote in a separate Instagram post Wednesday, alongside a photo of her smiling while leaving the Balenciaga show.
“The fat phobia JUMPED out. Yes, I am fat. No, I am not humiliated to show up as my authentic self in the world,” she continued, adding that she has “worked hard” to feel confident in her body.
The fashion editor was met with an outpouring of support from people across the world —and in her inner circle — following West’s social media tirade.
Gigi Hadid slammed the “Donda” rapper — twice — for his treatment of Karefa-Johnson, calling West a “bully.”
“You wish u had a percentage of her intellect. You have no idea haha…If there’s actually a point to any of your s–t she might be the only person that could save u,” Hadid, 27, commented under West’s original post.
“As if the ‘honor’ of being invited to your show should keep someone from giving their opinion..? Lol. You’re a bully and a joke.”
The next day, Vogue issued a statement in the editor’s defense.
“Vogue stands with Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, our global fashion editor at large and longtime contributor. She was personally targeted and bullied. It is unacceptable,” the publication shared in an Instagram post Tuesday.
“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.”
Numerous other celebrities have spoken out about the widely condemned T-shirts and West’s defense of his designs — including Sean “Diddy” Combs and West’s former sister-in-law, Khloé Kardashian.
