Meghan McCain Calls Kim Kardashian a 'Coward' After Balenciaga Statement

Meghan McCain has become the latest celebrity to slam Kim Kardashian's response to the Balenciaga "child pornography" controversy.

Kardashian, 42, broke her silence on Sunday saying she felt "disgusted" and "shaken" by images in a Balenciaga campaign showing children posing alongside teddy bear bags which were dressed in bondage gear.

She finished her statement saying she was "reevaluating" her relationship with the brand for which she has served as ambassador.

But McCain, who labelled the controversy as "epically revolting", claimed this was not good enough and celebrities such as Kardashian needed to take decisive action on the matter.

"Maybe no one is more associated with Balenciaga than Kim Kardashian," the 38-year-old wrote in a Daily Mail column, pointing out that Kardashian has almost exclusively worn Balenciaga since 2021.

McCain added: "Kim K and the fashion house are ubiquitous. Branding wise -- they are considered one and the same."

The pregnant media commentator called Kardashian a "coward for not immediately cutting ties with Balenciaga," and predicted "this choice will haunt her for years."

"The bottom line here is that grownups are supposed to protect children – period. And as a society, we seem to be failing the most innocent and vulnerable, who have no advocates but us," McCain wrote.

"Let's be clear, this isn't cancel culture. This is about protecting children. And adults need to step up."

McCain also joined Real Housewives alum Bethenny Frankel in questioning how a campaign like this could get approved, considering how many people are needed in the chain of command to give it the green light.

"The idea that these highly produced and — without a doubt — expensive photo shoots were not closely supervised and reviewed by every executive, photo editor and stylist in the company just doesn't fly. It is not only absurd, but it is safe to say this is likely a bold-faced lie," she wrote.

"Anyone who has ever participated in a photo shoot, let alone one for a giant fashion house, knows how many approvals are necessary before something is published."

McCain added: "Are we to believe that not one executive signed off on two major ad campaigns? How deep does the acceptance of child exploitation go in the fashion industry?"

Kardashian remained silent in the first few days after the controversy kicked off.

But she eventually spoke out on social media, in a lengthy statement where she spoke of feeling "outraged."

"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 its team to understand for myself how this could have happened," she began the Twitter thread.

"As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images," she said. "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."

Kardashian added: "As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, basing it off its willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with—& the actions I am expecting to see it take to protect children."

Balenciaga came under fire for its "Balenciaga Objects" campaign photoshoot, which showed off various accessories brandishing the label's recognizable logo.

Included in the shoot alongside the young children was its well-known teddy bear handbags, with one was dressed in BDSM gear including, a fishnet shirt and studded leather harness and collar.

Another photoshoot which garnered critical attention was for its recent collaboration with Adidas.

One of the images showed a bag resting on pieces of paper including one from 2008 Supreme Court ruling United States v. Williams.

A petition was filed in the court to examine whether 2003 federal laws criminalizing child pornography were an infringement on the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

The Supreme Court upheld the 2003 laws to continue to outlaw the advertising, promoting, presenting or distributing child pornography.

Balenciaga issued an apology last week but followed it up with a further statement released on Monday.

The full statement, which was posted as a story on Balenciaga's Instagram account, said the campaigns "reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility."

"We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative," it wrote.

"The first campaign, the gift collection campaign, featured children with plush bear bags dressed in what some have labelled BDSM-inspired outfits. Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children. This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone."

Then, with regards to the Adidas campaign, it wrote the items in the photoshoot "were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents."

But apparently the papers "turned out to be [real] papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama."

"The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint," the company continued.

"We take full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently."