Christian Dior head fashion designer John Galliano was arrested Thursday night in Paris for allegedly making anti-semitic remarks, which is illegal there (grrr, fight Fascism with Fascism!). Later, in what they claim was a separate incident, The Sun obtained video of a drunken Galliano at the same cafe, telling some women “I love Hitler.” Natalie Portman had been the spokesperson for Dior perfume, saying as recently as December:
“One of the things that’s been so nice is that Dior made all of the shoes for me with no animals and no leather or anything because I don’t wear any leather… They remade all my shoes so I can wear Dior shoes without taking lives.”
UPDATE: Here’s what Galliano said precipitating his arrest, according to the report:
In her statement to police, Bloch, who is not Jewish, alleged that Galliano screamed at her, “Dirty Jew face, you should be dead,” and told her to “shut your mouth, dirty bitch, I can’t stand your dirty whore voice.” As for Virgitti, who is of Asian descent, Bloch says Galliano yelled, “You f*cking Asian bastard, I’ll kill you!” He then returned his attention to Bloch. “You’re so ugly I can’t bear looking at you. You’re wearing cheap boots, cheap thigh boots. You’ve got no hair, your eyebrows are ugly, you’re ugly, you’re nothing but a whore.” And for his finale, Bloch — whom witnesses reported initially mistook Galliano for a homeless person, perhaps angering him — says Galliano yelled, “I am the designer John Galliano!” and struck a pose. [NYDailyNews]
Once Portman had seen the tapes, she released the predictable statement:
“I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today. In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way. I hope at the very least, these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.” [NYTimes]
“As a proud Jew whose real last name is ‘Hershlag’, who took a less-Jewy sounding name, I condemn these remarks…” Sorry, couldn’t resist. Anyway, Galliano has since been fired:
(his Hitler rant starts at 55 seconds)
Dior President and CEO Sidney Toledano, however, has been outspoken about his sentiments on the matter, telling press in a statement released on Tuesday: “I condemn most firmly the statements made by John Galliano which are a total contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended by the House of Christian Dior.”
I hate to be put in the position of Hitler-lover defender here, but it always seems a little hypocritical to me when a guy is allowed to be a fabulously batsh*t nutjob as long as he keeps his mouth shut and keeps making clothes, but the minute his Tourette’s manifests itself in something racial, he’s a pariah who has to kept in a Gollum cage away from the beautiful people. Oh my bad, you guys, who could ever have known this guy was a nutjob? No one saw this coming, I’m sure.
Of course a gay fashion designer loves Hitler. The Nazis had fabulous uniforms designed by Hugo Boss.