John Galliano Jewish Statement

¶ … John Galliano's anti-Semitic tirade first broke in February of 2011. One of the earliest reports of the incident was published in the UK Guardian, which claimed the Dior fashionista "was said to have hurled racist and anti-Semitic abuse." Of course, the article might have been published before the videos of Galliano went viral and therefore "was said to have" is a safe play on the part of the press. In fact, Galliano did say that he "loves Hitler" and told a woman some disturbing comments about how her ancestors would be dead if Hitler had his way.

The news arc over the course of the year took some predictable turns. Early reports were as bare bones as possible. Reporters covered just the facts, ma'am. Occasionally the reporters sounded slightly opinionated, but only to the extent that they were more willing to censure Galliano for making such obviously hate-filled remarks. For example, the Newzar host states that Dior "finally" hired John Galliano for being "racist and anti-Semitic."

Many of the early -- as well as later -- accounts of the incident introduced ancillary characters into the fray. Nathalie Portman is the most oft-cited reference, as she too was a spokesperson for Dior and happens also to be Jewish. Portman condemned Galliano and stated outright that she could not support Dior if they supported Galliano. As it was, Dior promptly fired Galliano to protect their reputation and the design firm did not hesitate, either. Dior's public relations department smartly distanced themselves from the flamboyant designer. Other celebrities like Nicole Kidman were poked because they wore Galliano-designed Dior dresses soon after the story broke (Newzar 2011). Throughout much of 2011, small stories about the Galliano trial were revealed, told mainly from an objective point-of-view that allowed Galliano's half-hearted apologies to be heard. After all, Galliano told the court that he was sorry for the trouble he caused but cleverly neglected to mention his being sorry for actually saying that he loved Hitler or that a woman's ancestors would be dead (Garvey 2011).

As the year went on, the story arc changed to become more broad and general. Several interesting commentaries were made in the media. For instance, one fashion-oriented news source delved deep into the annals of fashion history to reveal other instances of anti-Semitism and questionable taste. Popham (2011) reports: "In her Paris menswear collection of 1995, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons sent two thin young men with shaved heads down the catwalk wearing dressing gowns and striped pajamas with numbers on them. It didn't help that it was the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz: the brickbats descended, and Kawakubo withdrew the designs, claiming the resemblance was purely accidental. Her career never fully recovered." By the end of 2011, the Galliano story had merely become one of the "year's best/worst" list entries; little else was said about the career or life of Galliano.

"Designer John Galliano taunted as 'racist' at Los Angeles airport." April 11, 2011. New York Post. Retrieved online: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/designer_john_galliano_taunted_as_rB9Ecx1t5xI8yTAqWi6B0K