The fallout from the Leaving Neverland documentary has now spread to the world of fashion.
In the wake of Wade Robson and James Safechuck’s accusations that Michael Jackson sexually abused them over many years, Louis Vuitton has announced that it will pull its autumn/winter collection inspired by the singer.
This is not the first time a famous fashion brand has decided to publicly detach itself from a celebrity following a scandal. Back in 2012 Nike decided to terminate its deal with famous cyclist Lance Armstrong following doping allegations. And British supermodel Kate Moss lost the endorsement of several brands – including Chanel and Burberry – after pictures of her taking cocaine appeared in the media,
A few days before Vuitton officially distanced itself from Jackson, the collection was already receiving negative press.
A New York Times headline read: “Michael Jackson as muse? Louis Vuitton has some explaining to do”. The writer – Guy Trebay – was not impressed by the excuse offered by designer Virgil Abloh – that he hadn’t been aware of the documentary, and wanted to focus on the singer’s positive humanitarian work – making the point that even before the documentary was released, most people knew about Jackson’s dark side.
Whatever your opinion, launching a Michael Jackson-inspired collection one week before Leaving Neverland was released, was an example of spectacularly bad timing, and the bad publicity that has followed will take time for Vuitton to fix.