Both Kanye West and his ex-wife Kim Kardashian have opened up on the controversial Balenciaga advertising campaign in which several “sexualised” images of children were displayed.
Several attacks on the luxury fashion brand were made last week when they stopped displaying the Christmas campaign that shows a swathe of young children wearing BDSM-style leather harnesses, while a separate advert appeared to portray Supreme Court documents that had relation to a number of child pornography cases.
West spoke with the paparazzi when leaving a church service last weekend (Saturday, November 26th). He said, “They tried to destroy my businesses at the same time, and the world saw it, and no one is saying anything. It shows you all celebrities are controlled. You don’t see no celebrities talking about the Balenciaga situation.”
As for Kardashian, she had quite a bit more to say. She wrote on Twitter, “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 their team to understand for myself how this could have happened.”
“As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images,” she added. “The safety of children must be held with the highest regard, and any attempts to normalise child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.”
Kardashian then went on to explain that she “appreciates” the fact that Balenciaga took the issue seriously and removed the campaign from public view. “In speaking with them, I believe they understand the seriousness of the issue and will take the necessary measures for this to never happen again,” she said before concluding that she is currently assessing whether or not she ought to work with Balenciaga again.