Jameela Jamil Berates ‘Famous Feminists’ Who Attended the Met Gala
The Met Gala was one of the most glamorous nights of the year that brought out many celebrities. However, Jameela Jamil believes that the event, specifically the Karl Lagerfeld theme, was shameful.
Jamil is known for being vocal about causes that she is passionate about. This time, her attention went to the recent Met Gala. Every year, the Met Gala has a theme, and this year’s theme was “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.” The theme was to honor the late designer Karl Lagerfeld, who died in 2019. From 1983 until his death, Lagerfeld was the creative director of Chanel. While there, he revolutionized the famous fashion house. However, he was not always a great person due to some fatphobic, racist, and sexist remarks and actions he has said and done over the years. Jamil felt appalled that a large event would honor Lagerfeld, so she took to Instagram to make her point.
On Instagram, Jamil stated, “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.” She continued, “Suddenly, your appetite to find someone’s tweets from when they were 12 has gone. 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 her sentiment in her Instagram caption: “This isn’t about cancel culture. It’s not even about Karl. It’s about showing how selective cancel culture is within liberal politics in the most blatant way so far… And it’s not just Hollywood here; the general public online participated and was entirely complicit in the erasure of the truth last night. They replaced their pitchforks with spoons last night to lap that shit right up…” She ended the caption with, “If we carry on like this, don’t be surprised when we lose the next election.”
The decision to celebrate Karl Lagerfeld at the Met Gala highlights that not only does the fashion and Hollywood still refuse to learn from abuse in their industries, they toast to those responsible for keeping that abuse going.
— David Challen (@David_Challen) May 2, 2023
This by @jameelajamil hits the nail on the head 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/V25bzmuC6D
While Lagerfeld has contributed a lot to fashion, he has had a controversial history. In recent years before his death, he made comments about body shaming women and encouraging the stick-thin model expectations. In 2012, Lagerfeld commented, “There are less than one percent of anorexic girls. But there are zero in France; I don’t know in England – over 30 percent of girls [are] big, big, overweight. And that is much more dangerous and very bad for the health. So I think today, with the junk food in front of TV, it’s something dangerous for the health of the girl.” He has also stated that women like Lana Del Ray and Heidi Klum are too heavy.
Lagerfeld has also made some disappointing comments about the #MeToo movement. In 2018, he stated, “I’m fed up with it…What shocks me most in all of this are the starlets who have taken 20 years to remember what happened. Not to mention the fact there are no prosecution witnesses.” In a separate statement, defending accusations against Karl Templar of Interview Magazine, “If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model! Join a nunnery; there’ll always be a place for you in the convent. They’re recruiting even!”
Karl Lagerfeld was a rape apologist; spoke wantonly about refugees, Muslims, and the Holocaust; and all of his glib soundbites are delicately swatted away as the ramblings of a genius.
— Brinda (@theonlybrinda) May 2, 2023
To my knowledge, only @jameelajamil has taken a public stand.
How very, very sad.
While many celebrities go to this Lagerfeld-themed event, there are suspicions that some stars shaded Lagerfeld with their outfits. Most people wore black and/or white to the Met Gala. However, some attendees wore pink. That may have been a reference to Lagerfeld’s quote, “Think pink. But don’t wear it.” Celebrities like Viola Davis, Ashley Graham, Naomi Campbell, Chloe Fineman, and more stood out in glamorous pink dresses. No celebrities officially said they were making a statement against Lagerfeld. However, the subtlety spoke for itself. It’s not the same as protesting, but it gets people talking.
karl lagerfeld hated fat people and pink which makes Harvey Guillén’s slay truly an impeccable gorgeous fuck you
— frogz 🐸 (@1800frogzplz) May 2, 2023
infinity/10 pic.twitter.com/6K2QOLotmp
This is not the first time that Jamil has expressed her disdain towards Lagerfeld. She also shared her opinions right after his death. While most people on social media were honoring his legacy and fashion, Jamil wanted to be honest, even if it may be “too soon.” In a since-deleted tweet, she tweeted, “A ruthless, fat-phobic misogynist shouldn’t be posted all over the internet as a saint gone too soon. Talented for sure, but not the best person.” Her tweet included a link to an article by Lara Witt from Wear Your Voice Magazine called “Stop Mourning Oppressors: Anti-condolences for Karl Lagerfeld.” Four years later, Jamil is standing her ground.
While many people agree with Jamil, not much can change about this situation since the event has already happened. However, maybe the Met Gala will put more thought into next year’s theme. Furthermore, maybe people will think more about who they support.
