MANILA, Philippines - The fashion world was knocked off its sky-high platforms when news that John Galliano, the 50-year-old chief designer of Christian Dior, was fired for allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks to a couple in a Paris bar. The supposed drunken rant would’ve remained a “he said/she said” incident had UK tabloid The Sun not leaked a video of Galliano. Taken in October 2010, it features the British creative telling others in the same Marais watering hole: “I love Hitler” and that their forefathers would have been “gassed.” Nazi chic? No one thinks so.
The French fashion house, under CEO Sidney Toledano, was right in immediately sacking its superstar designer for professional misconduct. Perception matters the most in a business such as luxury fashion, and a label such as Dior cannot risk being associated with anti-Semitism in any shape or form. Even Oscar winner Natalie Portman, the official face of Miss Dior Cherie, disassociated herself from Galliano, saying, “These still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.”
It’s not the first time that a celebrity has flown off the handle and hurled racist statements. In 2006, Mel Gibson went on a rampage when he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The actor then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: “F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” The Braveheart star is currently in career limbo.
Charlie Sheen has also been on the radar lately for going on a drug binge. After CBS, his home network, halted production of his show Two and a Half Men, the 45-year-old then called producer Chuck Lorre by a Jewish version of his real name and described him as “a contaminated little maggot.” The series of media interviews he gave, in which he appeared paranoid and off his rocker, have since become memes. In a twist worthy of TMZ, he now has the support of Howard Stern, Sean Penn, Donald Trump, and bizarrely, Mel Gibson, who all say he is a winner. I have to admit, the dude is more entertaining than ever.
When celebrities implode, they do so with a much bigger bang than your average man on the street. In the case of John Galliano, the loss of his right-hand man Steven Robinson four years ago may have led to his errant behavior. Creativity needs to be tempered with sobriety. When left to their own devices, artists and other such mavericks are prone to meltdowns as they tend to have very little patience for people who act or think slowly.
Talent that is based on arrogance is poisonous. John Galliano’s fall from grace proves that even the biggest and the brightest are disposable.