'Vogue' Editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson Breaks Silence After Kanye Attack

The Vogue editor Kanye West attacked online after she critiqued his controversial Yeezy fashion show has broken her silence on the social media fallout.

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.

Gabriella Karefa-Johnson discusses Kanye West's online attack
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson is pictured left on April 02, 2022, in New York City. Kanye West is pictured right on September 26, 2022, in London, England. Karefa-Johnson has broken her silence after West targeted her online... Taylor Hill/WireImage;/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Burberry

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 "incredibly irresponsible" and "pure violence," as she 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, model Gigi Hadid led the charge of those in the fashion industry speaking out against his actions and defending Karefa-Johnson.

Karefa-Johnson broke her silence on the matter early Wednesday, writing in an Instagram Story post: "Today literally said 'Hiiiii-yah' *roundhouse kick to the face, very Mortal Kombat.

"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.

"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."

Gabriella Karefa-Johnson speaks out after Kanye attack
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson is pictured on October 01, 2022, in Paris, France. The "Vogue" contributing editor shared a statement on Instagram early Wednesday. Darren Gerrish/Getty Images for BoF;/Gabriella Karefa-Johnson/Instagram

For his part, West, who has legally changed his Ye, has taken down his posts attacking Karefa-Johnson and replaced them with a more positive one.

"Gabby is my sister," he captioned a photo of the fashion professional. "[I'm] not letting people go to bed thinking I didn't meet with Gabrielle at 5 p.m. today for two hours then we went to dinner at Ferdie.

"Anna [Wintour] had Baz Luhrmann film our meeting and we are editing tonight. We took pics and I was instructed to not post them."

Mentioning his previous social media attack on Trevor Noah after the comedian criticized his treatment of ex-wife Kim Kardashian, West continued of Karefa-Johnson: "It felt like she was being used like Trevor Noah and other Black people to speak on my expression.

"She expressed that her company did not instruct her to speak on my T-shirt expression.

"We apologized to each other for the way we made each other feel we actually got along and have both experienced the fight for acceptance in a world that's not our own. She disagreed I disagreed we disagreed. At least we both love Ferdie and fashion."

A statement was also shared on Vogue's Instagram account regarding the incident.

"Vogue stands with Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, our global fashion editor at large and longtime contributor," read the statement. "She was personally targeted and bullied. It is unacceptable.

"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."

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 one-time 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."

Gabriella Karefa-Johnson criticizes Kanye West's Yeezy show
Global "Vogue" contributing editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who was present at Kanye West's Paris Fashion Week show, shared her reaction to the presentation. Gabriella Karefa-Johnson/Instagram

"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."

Gabriella Karefa-Johnson calls Kanye's show "pure violence"
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson called Kanye West's inclusion of "White Lives Matter" shirts in his show "pure violence." Gabriella Karefa-Johnson/Instagram

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 T-shirts 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.

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more

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