Balenciaga ambassador Kim Kardashian has finally broken her silence amid a backlash against the brand for a photo shoot, pictures from which featured on the luxury fashion brand's website as part of its holiday gift shop.
The images included toddlers holding the company's teddy-bear handbags, with the latter appearing to be dressed in bondage gear, including fishnet shirts and studded leather harnesses and collars.
Kardashian, 42, took to Twitter to say she was "disgusted" and "shaken" by the controversial pictures.
"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," she began the Twitter thread.
"As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images," she said. "The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society—period."
Kardashian added: "As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, basing it off their willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with—& the actions I am expecting to see them take to protect children."
Kardashian's tweets come after her ex-husband, Ye— formerly known as Kanye West— took a veiled dig at her.
Ye was recently let go from a number of his lucrative brand deals, including Adidas and Balenciaga, over a series of antisemitic tweets.
He spoke to a reporter over the weekend and said the number of celebrities not publicly condemning Balenciaga showed a double standard.
The rapper warned fans not to "trust influencers" because they were "being controlled."
Alongside Kardashian's rise to fame on E! reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, she was well known for bringing in big money to work as an influencer doing brand endorsements on social media and at in-person events.
"This just shows you all celebrities are controlled. You don't see no celebrities talking about the Balenciaga situation," Ye said.
"All these celebrities out here, don't let them influence you in any way, because they're really controlled by people who really influence the world. There's no such thing as a celebrity influencer.
Balenciaga came under fire for its Balenciaga Objects collection, which featured a campaign titled "Balenciaga Gift Shop," shot by Gabriele Galimberti.
The shoot included several photos of children alongside various items.
The images included toy bears wearing fishnet shirts, studded leather harnesses and collars.
Galimberti has previously said of the shoot: "I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same.
"As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style."
In another photo shoot for its new joint campaign with Adidas, shot by photographer Chris Maggio, people noticed a pile of papers which included a page from the 2008 Supreme Court ruling United States v. Williams.
The ruling upheld the PROTECT Act, a 2003 federal law that criminalizes advertising, promoting, presenting or distributing child pornography.
The photo shoots went viral after one person called out the company on Twitter, writing "the brand 'Balenciaga' just did a uh… interesting… photoshoot for their new products recently which included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about 'virtual child porn.' normal stuff."
Balenciaga apologized for the photo shoot and pulled the images which people on social media described as "child porn."
The brand told Newsweek it would stop selling the toy bears featured in the campaign.
"We recognize the seriousness of this matter and condemn all forms of child abuse. We immediately removed the Holiday campaign from our platforms and will cease to sell the plush bears it featured," a spokesperson said. "We sincerely apologize for any offense our Holiday and Spring 23 campaigns may have caused."
Photographer Gabriele Galimberti who shot the Balenciaga Objects campaign said he was not responsible for the content of the images.
"I am not in a position to comment Balenciaga's choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same," he told Newsweek.
The pictures went viral when social media users compared the images to "child porn."
"As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style," Galimberti continued. "As usual, the direction of the campaign and of the shooting are not on the hands of the photographer."
Update 11/28/22 4:30 a.m. EST: This article was updated to add context.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
