Kanye West spoke out about the uproar surrounding the brand's most recent ad campaign, which portrays kids wearing teddy bear-shaped backpacks with bondage accessories, being a former major fan and partner of Balenciaga.
After church on Saturday, West was stopped by paparazzi and appeared to urge his fellow celebrities to criticize the opulent brand, which severed connections with the rapper in October as a result of his string of comments.
"This only serves to show how all celebrities are in check. You don't see any celebrities talking about the Balenciaga thing,” according to what West allegedly told TMZ.
"Don't let any of these celebrities out here affect you in any way," he added, "because they're all in the hands of the people that have global power. They aren't carrying out God's will.”
One day after West's interview, Kim Kardashian, who has been in Balenciaga commercials and virtually exclusively wears the company's clothing, posted a response to the offensive advertising on social media.
“Not because I haven't been horrified and insulted by the most recent Balenciaga campaigns, but more so because I wanted the opportunity to speak with their team to find out how this could have happened for myself,” stated Kardashian.
"As a mother of four, the horrifying images have left me feeling uneasy. Children's protection must be prioritized above all else, and attempts to normalize child abuse in any form have no place in our culture.”
In a follow-up statement about her relationship with the brand, Kardashian, 42, said, "As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, basing it on their willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened in the first place—and the actions I am expecting to see them take to protect children."
Nicole Kidman, who also participated in the advertising, has kept the pictures up despite several comments urging the two to issue a public statement. Bella Hadid, who was the face of a recent Balenciaga campaign, quietly erased the pictures from Instagram.
West has a lengthy relationship with Balenciaga and has collaborated with the brand's creative director, Demna, for years. West even made his modeling debut last month at Balenciaga's Paris runway show.
The "Gold Digger" rapper appeared to be wearing redesigned Balenciaga designs imprinted with his "Ye24" logo during the same video interview in which he criticized celebrities for remaining silent about the controversy and stated he plans to sell them to the general public for $20.
The liberal elite of Hollywood's silence on the numerous child image scandals engulfing Balenciaga has sparked growing rage.
Models and brand ambassadors Bella Hadid and Nicole Kidman, who both appeared in the contentious Spring '23 campaign that has since been removed from the company's website and is the subject of intense debate in the fashion industry, are among those who have not yet denounced the fashion house.
The fact that Balenciaga utilized young children as models for a Christmas marketing shoot to promote handbags modeled like teddy bears wearing bondage gear and the presence of a SCOTUS child porn ruling in the background of a photo from their shoot has not been addressed publicly by either actress.
They have yet to confront a widely displayed book in another picture that honors the creativity of Michael Borremans, a painter known for his gruesome pictures of naked, castrated children.
Others who frequently attend Balenciaga presentations as VIP guests, appear in marketing campaigns and extol the virtues of creative director Demna Gvasalia have yet to make any sort of statement.
Bella Hadid, who co-starred in the advertisement and paid tribute to the late Virgin Abloh, who passed away precisely one year prior, remained silent about the controversy and did not reply to questions from DailyMail.com.
Inquiries were also not answered by representatives for Isabelle Huppert, who is seen in two campaign pictures standing in front of the Borremans book.
They are not the only ones who still support the brand.
Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, who attended the Balenciaga show in Paris last month, have not yet commented in any way.
Despite mounting criticism from her followers, Euphoria actress Alexa Demie has refused to take down an advertisement she shot for the company from her Instagram profile.
Several liberal celebrities are currently being chastised for their apparent hypocrisy after quickly distancing themselves from and canceling conservative events for various infractions.
Observe how no banks have dropped Balenciaga. According to a conservative activist, "Culture will cancel a canned food company for its CEO voting red, but not a fashion brand supporting child pornography."
