Published 16:36 IST, May 4th 2023
Jameela Jamil hits out at MET Gala 2023 for celebrating 'known bigot' Karl Lagerfeld
Jameela Jamil expressed her views on celebrating the “known bigot" Karl Lagerfeld. The actress also called out the “famous feminists” of the industry.
The MET Gala took place on May 1 in New York City. This year’s theme was based on the late German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. Jameela Jamil expressed her views on celebrating the “known bigot" Karl. The actress also called out “famous feminists” of the industry for taking part in the event.
Jameela took to her Instagram handle and shared a note which read, “Last night Hollywood and fashion said the quiet part out loud when a lot of famous feminists chose to celebrate at the highest level a man who was so publicly cruel to women, to fat people, to immigrants and to sexual assault survivors. And all the women’s publications, and spectators online, chose to gleefully ignore it. Nobody has perfect morals, least of all me, but Jesus Christ, we had a year to course-correct here and not award the highest honor possible to a known bigot,” Jamil continued. “And everyone decided all of a sudden we can separate the art from the artist when convenient. Last night we relinquished our right to be taken at all seriously about anything important.”
In the caption, The Good Place star wrote, This isn't about cancel culture. Its not even about Karl. It's about showing how selective cancel culture is within liberal politics, in the most blatant way so far. It's about showing why people don't trust liberals. Because of slippery tactics and double standards like this. And it's not just Hollywood here, the general public online participated and were entirely complicit in the erasure of the truth last night. They replaced their pitchforks with spoons last night, to lap that shit right up… If we carry on like this, don't be shocked when we lose the next election.
Karl Lagerfeld's controversial remarks
Despite his fame as a fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld was also a contentious figure who made a number of remarks that were either critical of the #MeToo movement or supported narrow definitions of beauty. He made an infamous statement to the German fashion magazine Focus in 2009 saying, "No one wants to see curvy women."
He also sparked outrage in 2017 when he criticised Angela Merkel, the German chancellor at the time, for giving migrants a place to stay. Met Gala 2023 was attended by some of the biggest celebrities in music, television, film, and fashion industry. The long list of guests included Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, Lizzo, Jenna Ortega, Pedro Pascal, Kim Kardashian, and more.
Updated 16:36 IST, May 4th 2023