Gigi Hadid Leads Backlash Against Kanye Over His Attack on 'Vogue' Editor

Gigi Hadid has branded Kanye West a "bully and a joke," after he took personal jabs at a Vogue editor over her criticism of his decision to include "White Lives Matter" T-shirts in his Yeezy Paris Fashion Week show.

Rapper and fashion designer West, 45, is facing a backlash after he and conservative commentator Candace Owens appeared at his show on Monday, wearing tops emblazoned with the words "White Lives Matter." Models also wore the slogan.

West's revision of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) message has angered many who have advocated for social justice. For years, BLM supporters have protested against systemic racism and police brutality, but some white supremacists have distorted the group's well-known slogan to espouse racist views.

Global Vogue contributing editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who was present at the show, later wrote in an Instagram Story post that the runway stunt was "pure violence," as she also shared her thoughts on the matter.

After calling Black Lives Matter a "scam," West on Tuesday replied to the stylist and journalist's criticism by posting a screenshot of her Instagram profile, while also taking mean-spirited jabs at her sense of style.

While a number of West's fans supported his social-media reaction, supermodel Hadid, 27, led the charge of those speaking out against his actions as she commented on one of his posts.

After West shared a screenshot of a message from someone who said that he shouldn't "insult that writer" and instead have a "real conversation about the tee," Hadid let her feelings about West's behavior be known.

"You wish u had a percentage of her intellect," Hadid told West of Karefa-Johnson. "You have no idea haha.... 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."

Screen star Julia Fox, 32, who briefly dated West, also backed Karefa-Johnson, writing "QUEEN" on one of his posts and sharing an image of the fashion editor on her Instagram Story.

Comedian and writer Ziwe responded to West's attack by also sharing a photo of Karefa-Johnson on her Instagram Story, before writing: "Everyone knows that Black women are incredible. You're welcome."

Over on Twitter, fashion writer Evan Ross Katz called on Vogue and its publisher, Condé Nast, to send a "clear message" to West about his behavior.

"Vogue/Conde (and the industry writ large) need to rally around Gabby and send a clear message about this sort of despicable conduct," Katz tweeted.

Tyler McCall, former editor-in-chief at Fashionista.com, tweeted: "Gabriella Karefa-Johnson is an incredibly talented and thoughtful person, and the fashion industry is lucky to have her.

"She also has killer personal style and is one of the best stylists working today, and her eye will have a much more profound and long-lasting impact on the industry than most people could ever hope to."

"We stan Gabriella Karefa-Johnson in this household!!" read a tweet of support from Shelton Boyd-Griffith, a contributing editor at Essence and PopSugar.

Meanwhile, author Brodie Lancaster quoted a December article from The Cut in a tweet that listed some of Karefa-Johnson's accomplishments. This include being the first Black woman to style a Vogue cover, working with Vice-President Kamala Harris, and overseeing Hadid's solo Vogue cover.

"So repulsive to see Kanye West dedicating his time/Instagram to ripping Gabriella Karefa-Johnson to shreds considering how thoughtfully she engaged with the statement he made at his show," Lancaster tweeted.

Karefa-Johnson had posted screenshots of the self-described "gut reaction" she had to West's show in messages she said had been sent to a friend.

"What I feel is that he is not fully aware of the difference between appropriating BLM and subverting the 'make America Great Again' hat," she wrote of West, a onetime supporter of former President Donald Trump. "Although I disagree with his thesis there."

Karefa-Johnson continued: "I understand his idea that the hat was readymade. And it's value was intrinsic to context—signature of the artist. When worn by [Trump] it's racist, when [worn] by Kanye it's about liberation."

"He neglected to realize the importance of object when he tried to extend that kind of subversion to the BLM slogan," she wrote. "One is object one is ethos.

"I know what he was trying to do. He was trying to illustrate a dystopian world in the future when whiteness might become extinct or at least would be in enough danger to demand defense," Karefa-Johnson posted.

Karefa-Johnson continued that "the danger is that, this very premise, the idea that white supremacy is in danger of extinction [is] what justifies mass incarceration, murder en masse, indeed even the advent of slavery.

"The idea that blackness must be snuffed out for it will surely [supersede] whiteness in power and influence if given the chance, and it's so hugely irresponsible to furnish the most dangerous extremists with this kind of fiction narrative."

Karefa-Johnson also said that students from the choir at West's California-based school Donda Academy were singing at the show, saying that it "felt like the divide between indoctrination and education has never been finer."

In a follow-up post, Karefa-Johnson clarified her views on West's messaging, writing: "It's become clear that some viewers think my previous post containing my working, evolving thoughts on Kanye's show was some sort of distorted justification for the incredibly irresponsible and dangerous act of sending 'W**** Lives Matter' T-shirts down a runway.

"Please understand: it wasn't. The tshirts this man conceived, produced, and shared with the world are pure violence. There is no excuse, there is no art here. I'm sorry I failed to make that clear—I thought I did. 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.

"As we work through the trauma of this moment, especially those of us who suffered in that room, let's have some grace for one another," Karefa-Johnson wrote.

Newsweek has reached out for comment to representatives of West, Karefa-Johnson and Black Lives Matter.