Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Dior Fires John Galliano

I really thought John Galliano was going to get away with what he had done last week when Dior only suspended him for his racist and anti-Semitic remarks. But, after a video surfaced yesterday, Dior did the right thing and fired him. Natalie Portman, who is Jewish, had condemned the remarks by John Galliano but did not say she would stop wearing Dior. You would think when Galliano saw the camera he would stop. The video has some very offensive language.

42 comments:

MISCH said...

They did the right thing, the only thing they could do ....that snip-it of video says it all....

Trey said...

Good. I hate how many people in the fashion industry hide behind eccentricity for their hatred.

Maja With a J said...

Good for Dior! And snappy, too!

Ice Angel said...

I thought I read that Dior only fired him because Natalie told them if he wasn't she would walk away and what kind of publicity would that be for the newly christened oscar winning Israili Jewish woman to walk away from Dior? Not good!

Also...didn't Hitler persecute the gays as well? Why would this man say such a thing considering he is openly gay?

chopchop said...

I love MichaelK's take on it ... shame on you if you are a racist! But if you drug & rape an underage girl in the ass, "meh".

Jesse D said...

EXACTLY, chopchop! Portman disgusts me as much if not more than Galliano does.

Trey said...

The most updated Polanski petition I saw did not have Portman's name on it. And I'm not sure why she gets all the hatred for that but tons of directors and actors who did sign it are never mentioned.

I despise Polanski, but I can still applaud Natalie for taking a stand here. And how the hell could she disgust you MORE than a man who praises Hitler? What kind of sense does that make?

RocketQueen said...

Wow. Makes you wonder how many other people besides Galliano really kind of just want to high-five Mel Gibson.

Murphy Brown 2020 said...

@Tina -- I completely agree.

bluebonnetmom said...

I agree with Tina and Rocket Queen. Just sick to praise Hitler. I hope Hell is hot and he is burning in it.

Rose said...

IA, just because he is gay doesn't mean he can't be racist. Being a minority in something doesn't automatically make you enlightened.

Good for Dior. CBS, take note.

Sue Ellen Mishkey said...

I agree with what Dior did. Not like the villianess gave him any choice. Jesus. Praising Hitler is just not right in any circumstance.

0 said...

I still am in shock over it- Galliano was one of my favorite designers (WAS) and seeing/hearing him say that was seriously disgusting. What a waste.

Mango said...

Not that it's a defense, but Galliano was clearly highly intoxicated. I wonder if he was trying to offend the bourgeois dogs at the next table more than he actually believed the shit he was spewing. He's both very angry and grandiose.

Sadly, the public has a short memory and he'll be working for another fashion house before long.

jax said...

75%off at Dior Couture today!

surfer said...

Enty, part of Natalie's statement reads:

"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 think it's fair to say we won't be seeing her in Dior.

Anonymous said...

Would he have gotten fired if Portman hadn't made a deal about it???

Mr Pink said...

OK...anyone else seeing the irony of a Frenchman lauding Hitler?

i don't think Portman commented until after the video came out. Personally, if it wasn't for the evidence, I doubt Dior would have axed him.

Too bad he wasn't alive in the 30's. He could have really jazzed up those Gestapo uniforms.

Mango said...

I've seen Portman in a Dior perfume commercial and I think her contract with them is for perfume only, not couture. I don't suppose Galliano had anything to do with their line of fragrances.

Barton Fink said...

@Mango, Adding to your comment, I would like to point out that he seems determined to ratchet up the confrontation, almost as if he's trying to provoke violence against himself. This could be the final stages of a self-destructive substance abuse tragedy, and it's possible that when he cleans up, he'll be horrified at the depths he allowed himself to fall to. The anti-Jewish, anti-Asian, anti-Italian, anti-female, anti-whatever-he-thinks-will-stick insults are pathological. Inexcusable, too -- and it's all just a sad, sordid mess.

Ice Angel said...

@Rose-I know you can be gay and still be a racist, but my question was about whether Hitler persecuted gays as well as Jews. I had thought I had read that he had. If that is true, than one could say to Galliano that the same would have held true for him.

Mr Pink said...

Barton, I hope in a way you're right. Because its possible to beat an addiction.

Unfortunately, my take is that his condition is incurable...contagious arrogance that started at this anus and spread replacing all other cells in this body.

In other words, he's a walking asshole.

MommaBear said...

@Ice Angel, my thoughts exactly.

mooshki said...

Ice Angel, yes, Hitler sent homosexuals to the death camps too.

mooshki said...

Mr. Pink, what a coincidence - that's the exact same diagnosis I made for Charlie Sheen!

Missy said...

There's tons of racism in the gay community so this isn't surprising.

Mr Pink said...

Mooshki,

John G. is a walking asshole.

Charlie S. is a walking asshole on drugs.

Any questions?

mooshki said...

I really hope I never have to see the "this is your asshole on drugs" commercial. Although, the "brain" one did give us the awesome Rachel Leigh Cook.

Jasmine said...

@Mr. Pink- hahaha!
and for the people saying alcohol may have exacerbated this outpour of racist hate I disagree.
When I drink I dont suddenly decide to put my hitler hat on and go around saying those types of things.
And further, if indeed this was purely part of his tailspin into whatever addictions he has I still think to say things like this (intentional or reactionary or whatever) really speaks of the character u have that u are willing to go there. And to be so ignorant that you dont realize or care that your fellow commmunity of gay people suffered in addtion to the Jews is additonally disgusting.
I just had an 85yr old Holocaust Survivor speak in my class last week...the tip of her fingernail is worth more than this piece of shit

Robert said...

If John Galliano were alive when Hitler was alive, he would have been wearing the pink triangle. How drunk is he in this video? In vino veritas.

Rose said...

Sorry IA, I read it wrong.

Barton Fink said...

"This is your asshole on drugs" -- that's amazing.

At Huffingtonpost, people are posting enormous amounts of hatred for Jews on the thread about Portman's response to Galliano. I tell ya, these stories fascinate me because it draws all the Jew-haters on the internet to reveal their feelings. Except on CDAN, where everyone's generally good people. (I like this site.)

lunabelle said...

There is nothing that makes what he said okay. That video made me sick to my stomach.
I would like to see the beginning of it though. Clearly they knew who he was if they video taped it. I wonder what they said to him to get him to spew such vile things.
Again, there is no excuse for him or his statements. I am just curious because the women sounded awfully smug and bitchy to me.

Sherry R. said...

I don't think his mommy loved him.

Robin the Mad Photographer said...

You know, I'm starting to think that winning a Best Actress Oscar=some kind of shit hitting the fan for the winner not long thereafter. How many of them have split up w/a husband/SO not long thereafter? Sandy barely got a week to bask in the post-Oscar glow before Doofus & Bimboshell hit the papers, and now Natalie gets the crazed anti-Semites (OK, there isn't really any other kind, but you know what I mean) within 48 hours? WTF?

As for Galliano, good on Dior for giving him the heave-ho; I suspect the combination of Natalie's statement & the video turning up were the final nails in that particular coffin. And yes, gay people were murdered by the Nazis as well, so his sorry ass would have been at the camps w/a pink triangle sewed on his striped PJs to boot.

klang said...

Couple things:
1) finding a connection b/w an Oscar-win and a racist's true colors coming out is reaching. What is likely more accurate is that Portman, as an extension of the Dior brand, used her voice and the spotlight she currently has to make a statement for humanity.

2)Although Portman has the spotlight on her now, I highly doubt her voice alone drove this decision by Dior. Portman doesn't have enough pull in the fashion industry or with consumers of Dior fashion.

Maybe, just maybe, Dior leadership is putting action behind their words and after proof came out they decided to fire him. Or, perhaps the many Jewish high-ranking employees of Dior have enough clout to make this happen. Or maybe Dior needed an out to get rid of Galliano. Or maybe enough fashion industry folks with clout have "encouraged" this move.

Most likely - all of the above.

I think it is a potentially historical moment for all industry leaders. Consider including and setting expectations/accountabilities for morals and values your brand claims to represent/espouse and then walk that talk.

Ms. said...

I think Dior knew this about him prior to the first public allegation. He was suspended the moment those allegations hit the press. Not a whisper of support for him.

Think of other circumstances where things like this have been alleged. In a lot of cases, an employer will state something along the lines of, we support him, but the suspension is a formality, he will be cleared blah blah blah.

They knew. But didn't make a move to distance themselves from him until the rest of us knew. Shame on them.

Fungus the Photo! said...

He is ill. Good to know that some illnesses can attract stigma.

Bit like being a member of a religion or having an infection and being shunned for that?

Depression with self medication by alcohol.

Surely we should do the same for those with other illnesses? They too demonstrate moral weakness. We can't all be perfect like Dior and an Oscar winner?

Basil said...

Drunk or not, he said what he was thinking, which was completely horrendous. I do have to say I am quite surprised that he felt comfortable enough to say those things in public. Most people just hide behind the internet, or at the very least choose their words very very carefully when someone is around them who might disagree. It just makes me wonder how many people (his FRIENDS) probably agree with him. I can't imagine this is the first time he has said such things, drunk or sober.

Meg said...

YIKES...

Tatyana said...

Blogger Mr Pink said...

OK...anyone else seeing the irony of a Frenchman lauding Hitler?

Galliano is a British citizen with British father and Spanish mother.

reticulation said...

But this video! I can't believe it.

I did think it was funny though that with all the fuss surrounding Natalie Portman, that Michael K pointed out yesterday that she was carrying a Dior quilted bag.

I personally don't think Dior's decision had anything to do with one person (ie., Natalie's statement). It was just a PR disaster for the brand and something that they condemned for various (obvious) reasons. She just happened to be the first celebrity to say something about it.

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