Anyone here ever heard of John Galliano? Yeah, me neither. For all I know, he could be some insufferable commie out to destroy Western Civilization. Doesn’t matter. No one should be punished over something they said 16 freaken years ago and have already been punished for.
Galliano is some kind of hoity-toity British fashion designer and, back in 2010, he reportedly got drunk and said to a Jewish woman, “I love Hitler. … People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers would all be fucking gassed” — which makes me think he should be running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate this year.
He also referred to the woman’s Asian companion as that “fucking Asian bastard.”
He allegedly said this in Paris, was put on trial for anti-semitic abuse, and found guilty. The sentence included fines and court costs. He also faced some brutal professional fallout. Dior fired him as its creative director. Dior also owned his brand, so he reportedly lost that. He then entered rehab and sought the counseling of Jewish rabbis and the Anti-Defamation League.
File: UNITED STATES/CIRCA 1990 — John Galiano, Anna Wintour & Oscar de la Renta, Metropolitan Museum of Art – ’90s (Photo by Rose Hartman/Getty Images)
In summation, over a single outburst, Galliano lost his professional reputation, his profession, was found guilty, went to rehab, sought forgiveness, and has had no reported incidents of saying anything untoward in the 16 years since.
And none of that matters:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is no longer moving forward with its planned retrospective for John Galliano that would’ve run from May 9, 2027 to Jan. 9 2028 and served as the theme of next year’s Met Gala. Galliano, who would have been only the third living fashion designer to be feted by the Met following Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo in 2017, released a statement on Instagram announcing his decision to pull the retrospective amid backlash over his past racist outbursts.
…
“Following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s director and chief executive officer Max Hollein added in a statement to WWD.
Sure, the article claims Galliano chose to cancel, but it was due to public pressure and phony outrage — probably from a lot of the same New Yorkers who voted for their antisemitic mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
Galliano is 65 years old, has been a famous public figure for decades, and then he gets drunk one night, says something stupid one time, and 16 years later he’s still paying for it.
Mike Tyson served three years for raping a woman.
We live in such a stupid culture. And my point is not that Mike Tyson should still be excommunicated from polite society. He served his time. He paid the price. That should be the end of it. You repay your debt to society, and then you get a second chance. That’s the country and culture I want to live in. But how nuts is it that Mike Tyson is a forgiven and even a beloved cultural figure today, while this Galliano guy is still being persecuted after 16 years of penance? One guy raped a woman. The other guy said mean words.
Yes, there must be consequences for bad actions. But there must also be the acceptance of apologies, the offering of second chances, forgiveness, and allowing someone who is truly sorry to move on with their life.