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A Dolce & Gabbana fashion show scheduled to take place in Shanghai was cancelled at the last minute due to racism allegations.
The Great Show, billed as “a tribute to China” by the Italian fashion house, was cancelled hours before it was due to start on Wednesday night after Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were accused of sharing culturally insensitive content that mocked Chinese culture.
In a social media video series called “Eating With Chopsticks” shared on Dolce & Gabbana’s Instagram account, a model was depicted trying to eat pizza and pasta with chopsticks. The reaction in China was not positive, with the majority of people on social media sharing their offence, shock and disgust at the videos.
“[This video is] saying “hey, Chinese, listen, if you don’t know how to behave like a normal human, I can teach you that,” one user wrote in a Youtube comment.
“How the [narrator] instructs sounds very hierarchical and condescending,” said another.
“What’s up with the model giggling and being coy? That’s not what we’re like – especially when wearing Qipao [traditional women’s dress],” said another user.
What may have begun as a case of humour getting lost in translation escalated, however, when private messages sent by Stefano Gabbano were made public. In them, Gabbano told a friend the videos were only taken down because “my office is as stupid as the superiority of the Chinese”, called China “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia” and used the Pile of Poo emoji to describe the country.
After screenshots of the messages went viral, models who had been booked to walk in the show began announcing online that they would boycott the event.
Gabbana has denied he sent the messages.
“My Instagram account has been hacked. My legal office is working on this,” he wrote.
“I love China and the Chinese Culture. I’m so sorry for what happened.”
The Dolce & Gabbana Instagram account posted a similar statement.
“Our Instagram account has been hacked. So has the account of Stefano Gabbana. Our legal office is urgently investigating. We are very sorry for any distress caused by these unauthorized posts, comments and direct messages. We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China. Dolce & Gabbana.”
It’s not the first time Gabbana has offended a large number of people on social media – earlier this year he wrote “she’s so ugly” on a photo of Selena Gomez.
