Source: Claudio Lavenia / Getty
Famed fashion designer, Virgil Abloh, is getting slammed on social media after he showcased his donation of $50 to a bailout fund for people protesting George Floyd‘s death.
Abloh showcased his donation on his Instagram stories, where he screenshotted a payment confirmation of $50 to the bail fund FEMPOWER. He commented on the photo, writing, “The Miami community, I’m crazy inspired. For kids in the streets that need a bail funds for George Floyd protests.” Abloh also tagged some of his designer and artistic friends to match the donation.
Abloh gained popularity thanks to his Off-White clothing brand, which he founded in 2012, according to Vox. Oftentimes, the brand played off irony by placing the name of the clothing item or some other statement in quotes on the product.
Much of Off-White’s items are considered high-fashion streetwear with sweatshirts ranging upwards $1,000, and even smaller accessories such as iPhone cases ranging between $70 and $90.
In 2018, Abloh became the artistic director for Louis Vuitton, becoming the first Black American to become the artistic director for a French luxury fashion house. Louis Vuitton in itself is a $39.3 billion fashion house, according to Forbes.
Considering these stats, it’s imaginable that people were heated when Abloh was showing off his $50 donation.
Granted, in his Instagram story, post before the “$50” one, he shared a list of bailout funds for people to donate to. However, folks were not about to let Abloh off the hook.
“Virgil Abloh can put quotation marks on some clothing but can’t put commas on a donation,” one user wrote.
“Nigga Virgil donated 50 dollars. Nothing at the offwhite site cost 50 dollars,” wrote another user.
It should be noted that before posting about his donation, Abloh was also condemning protestors who were looting or destroying property. In one post, he expressed his outrage that fellow fashion store owner Sean Wotherspoon‘s store was wrecked in Los Angeles :
“This is fucked up. You see the passion blood sweat and tears Sean puts in for our culture. This disgusts me. To the kids that ransacked his store and RSVP DTLA, and all our stores in our scene, just know, that product staring at you in your home/apartment right now is tainted and a reminder of a person I hope you aren’t. We’re apart of a culture together. Is this what you want?? When you walk past him in the future please have the dignity to not look him in the eye, hang your head in shame.”
Ironically, Wotherspooon, who is white, seemed to care more about Black life than his property. After posting images of his “ransacked” store, Wotherspoon made another post, writing, “I’m absolutely disgusted with our system, and to be honest I have trouble finding words for my anger and sadness about the inequality I see in our world. I’m nothing short of sad. I will always stand with black and brown community and continue to do my best to offer a platform for EVERYONE.” He ended his post by writing “Black Lives Matter!”
Meanwhile, Twitter still couldn’t deal with Abloh’s $50 donation.
Check out some hilarious responses below.
