Gigi Hadid has called Kanye West a “bully” and a “joke” after he lashed out at fashion editor Gabriella Karifa-Johnson in a series of Instagram posts. His attack on Vogue contributing editor Karifa-Johnson came after she, along with many other attendees of his Yeezy Season 9 fashion show during Paris Fashion Week, criticized the collection. However, Hadid wasn’t about to sit idly by and decided to come to Karifa-Johnson’s defense.
Instagram/Kanye West
- West made personal attacks on Karefa-Johnson. Instead of accepting criticism gracefully, the rapper went his usual route by resorting to petty personal attacks on social media. After reading Karefa-Johnson’s comments on the new Yeezy collection, West decided to post photos of her on his own Instagram feed. He captioned these photos with digs about her personal style in an effort to discredit her.
- Gigi Hadid had words for Kanye West. Under one of West’s attacking Instagram posts, Hadid spoke out. “You wish u had a percentage of her intellect,” she wrote on October 4. “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. 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.”
- Hadid wasn’t the only one to come to the editor’s defense. As one user wrote on Twitter: “The fact of the matter is Gabriella gave Kanye a lot of grace in her thoughts on the show. She actually, very clearly thought out the pieces, which meant she really took him seriously an artist.” West also posted a text from someone saved in his phone as “Mowalola,” who said: I also don’t think you should insult that writer. You could actually have a real conversation about the tee.”
- West put a lot into his collection. During the show, held on October 3, West told the crowd that the new Yeezy collection is the start of a “new frontier” (via E! News). “This is an unmanageable situation. This is God’s dream, a dream that can’t happen without the help of God,” he said. And while it’s difficult to accept when not everyone is crazy about your creative endeavors, insulting them is not the way to go.
- It seems Gigi Hadid was right about Kanye West: he is a bully. It’s evident in the way he uses social media to drag people through the mud if he doesn’t like them. This is not only immature, it’s potentially harmful as he has a large following that could act out on his behalf violently. Differences of opinion are natural. Respect should not be optional. Perhaps West should stay off social media until he learns that.
