IT’S COMPLICATED: As much as the fashion industry is fueled by reinvention, it continues to be beleaguered by its checkered track record for diversity.
Vogue and its leader Anna Wintour came under fire for transgressions, during a Wednesday morning discussion on “The View.” While cohosts of the ABC show were chiming in (primarily favorably) about Vogue’s August cover featuring Dr. Jill Biden, Meghan McCain disagreed.
Thursday morning McCain, the daughter of deceased Republican Sen. John McCain, announced that she will be leaving the program later this month to spend more time with her daughter and husband.
Wednesday McCain stated on-air that she has been “done with Vogue ever since they put a very racist cover [in 2008] with LeBron James and Gisele [Bündchen] on the cover where he’s meant to look like an ape holding a woman.”
She also said, “Vogue has a very, very problematic history, as you can read about in André Leon Talley’s book [“The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir”] that he wrote and actually was a guest on this show talking about the intense racism he felt.”
Reached Thursday morning, Talley defended Wintour and Condé Nast, despite having chronicled in his book some of the discrimination he faced at the company during his career. “I have said this before. There is not a racist bone in her body. Anna comes from a European culture, perhaps a colonial class culture [coming] from England. This may influence her but in the end, she is an extraordinary editor. I don’t think she should be attacked by anyone on such a format as ‘The View.’ No one’s coming after Anna Wintour because she’s doing what she promised to do after her official statement last summer after the killing of George Floyd.”
