EYE: Gucci Denies Black Community Boycott Is Slowing Sales | Leigh Bowery Inspired Sweater

EYE: Gucci Denies Black Community Boycott Is Slowing Sales | Leigh Bowery Inspired Sweater

Kering's chief financial officer Jean-Marc Duplaix rejected the notion that the blackface scandal played a determining role in Gucci's recent sales slowdown. Per ‘Business of Fashion’, "He dismissed the idea that backlash against a balaclava sweater widely criticized for resembling blackface had hurt sales."

Still — when growth slows some and the word ‘boycott’ is being called for by Oscar-winning director Spike Lee — a smart person takes the situation very seriously. 50 Cent immediately posted a video of himself burning his Gucci clothing, and Soulja Boy covered up the forehead tattoo that was once an ode to the brand, writes Complex.

"Gucci's done," Soulja said before being asked if he planned to ditch his collection of Gucci pieces. "Nah, we ain't gon' return it...I'll just give it to charity."

Why Blackface? A Scholar Weighs In On Why Blackface Is Part of American Culture's DNA

Covington Catholic High School Students carry on blackface tradition at 2012 basketball game.

Why Blackface? A Scholar Weighs In On Why Blackface Is Part of American Culture's DNA

By Michael Millner, Associate Professor of English and American Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell . First published on The Convervsation

Blackface is part of American culture’s DNA.

But America has forgotten that.

For almost two weeks, conflict has raged over the use of blackface by two current Virginia politicians when they were younger. The revelations have threatened the men’s jobs and their standing in the community.

The use of blackface is now politically and culturally radioactive. Yet there was a time when it wasn’t.

I teach the history of blackface in the United States. Like much of America, my undergraduate students suffer from a kind of historical amnesia about its role in American culture. They know little about its long history, and they haven’t considered its prevalence and significance in everyday American life.

Most of all, they’ve never asked themselves, “Why blackface?”

Gucci Chief Executive Marco Bizzarri Meeting With Dapper Dan Over Blackface Sweater Disaster

Gucci Chief Executive Marco Bizzarri Meeting With Dapper Dan Over Blackface Sweater Disaster

Gucci Chief Executive Marco Bizzarri is planning to meet with Dapper Dan and other African-American leaders during a trip to New York this week to discuss the sweater debacle. “"I am a Black man before I am a brand," he wrote. “Another fashion house has gotten it outrageously wrong,” Dapper Dan said in an Instagram post. “There is no excuse nor apology that can erase this kind of insult.”

The renowned Harlen fashon designer and tailor originally gained fame knocking off Guuci’s logo in the ‘80s and ‘90s, before finding itself in the drivers seat when Alessandro Michele knocked off one of Dapper Dan’s designs in his own 2018 Resort collection. The two men signed a peace treaty with Dapper Dan collaborating with Gucci on a vintage hip-hop-inspired capsule collection. Then Kering stepped in to underwrite Dap’s new studio and atelier in Harlem, while making him the face of a special tailoring campaign. Gucci has also underwritten several art events celebrating black culture in Harlem and around New York.

As the former head of product development and fashion director for Victoria’s Secret, I recommend that Gucci load up a corporate jet with design talent and head for Washington, DC and a trip to the African American Museum of African American History and Culture. This will give them a complete understanding of the sensitivity of black face in America to progressives of every skin color.

Megyn Kelly's 'Blackface' Comments Leave Her NBC News Future Very Cloudy

Megyn Kelly's 'Blackface' Comments Leave Her NBC News Future Very Cloudy

I missed this Megyn Kelly 'blackface' stupidity from Tuesday. The NBC face been on thin ice anyway, as Kelly's ratings have not been great. Her audience is 35% or more people -- largely women -- of color.

She still hasn't recovered from her run-in with Jane Fonda, choosing to ask Fonda about plastic surgery rather than her activism, which was the scheduled topic. Fonda abruptly ended the interview.

So Megyn Kelly, who already has a track record over objecting to black Santas, wonders out loud -- in the midst of this Trump crisis -- why whites can't wear blackface on Halloween. If the woman wanted to get her contract cancelled, she just delivered her own knock-out punch.

Kelly’s off the air Thursday and everything is up in the air at NBC. Rumors are intense that her departure is in negotiations. Given the outrage among her own colleagues over her ‘blackface’ remarks, it’s difficult to understand how Megyn Kelly can survive.

What was she thinking!!! Just last night I wrote a terse pushback over Instagram and Twitter outrage that Kendall Jenner was wearing frizzy curls in a photoshoot. Generally I feel that our culture has become way too politically correct. However, blackface??? Are you out of your mind Megyn Kelly? Because I refuse to buy the dumb blonde moniker, being one myself.