Stefano Gabbana condemns unenlightened ‘ignorance’ of Elton John

Fashion/Telegraph 16 March 2015
Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have already issued a statement this morning expressing that it was never their intention to judge gay parenting and marriage after Elton John took to Instagram to publicly denounce remarks made by the pair in Italy’s Panorama magazine.

Now Gabbana has spoken in more detail about the scandal to Corriere Della Sera, labelling Elton John’s call for his fans to boycott the Dolce & Gabbana brand “unenlightened” and “ignorant”.

Speaking to Matteo Persivale, Gabbana argues that Dolce’s comments were taken out of context.

“They’re just putting words into our mouths, now. They’re saying we are against gay parenting. It’s not true. Domenico only expressed his opinion about the traditional family and about In Vitro Fertilisation. If someone else wants to make different choices, fine, they are free to do it. We demand the same respect.”

Asked about how he felt after reading Elton John’s comments on Instagram and his hashtag #BoycottDolceGabbana, Gabbana describes his shock.

“I didn’t expect this, coming from someone whom I considered, and I stress “considered”, an intelligent person like Elton John. I mean, you preach understanding, tolerance and then you attack others? Only because someone has a different opinion? Is this a democratic or enlightened way of thinking? This is ignorance, because he ignores the fact that others might have a different opinion and that theirs is as worthy of respect as his.”

In response to John’s petition for his followers to #BoycottDoceGabbana, Gabbana retorted by posting the word #Fascist! on John’s wall before calling on their followers to #BoycottEltonJohn.

“Come on, I was annoyed for a moment. It would be ridiculous. Either you like somebody’s songs or you don’t. When you go to the greengrocer’s, you don’t make sure that he agrees with your views on IVF. You just want to know if he has fresh products… We are not boycotting and we will not boycott anyone ”
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG11474820/Stefano-Gabbana-condemns-unenlightened-ignorance-of-Elton-John-in-wake-of-BoycottDolceGabbana-campaign.html