After facing backlash from comments condemning looting and vandalism of streetwear stores in Los Angeles and Chicago, and then further backlash comparing a $50 one-off donation with how expensive his products are, Off-White™ founder and Louis Vuitton designer Virgil Abloh has posted a lengthy apology to his social, and clarified his personal donations to initiatives around the ongoing protests in the US.
In a tried-and-true Notes App apology thread on Twitter and Instagram, Virgil Abloh spoke into his experience in America as a Black man with parents who immigrated from Ghana and recognised the systemic oppression of BIPOC and LGBTQIA folk in America and abroad.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6ObECpnvH/
He also apologised for the comments he made about stores owned by his friends and peers being looted and recognised that buildings can be replaced while lives cannot.
Virgil Abloh also addressed the $50 donation that copped him a lot of backlash, immediately comparing the chain-matching donation with how much some of the pieces from Off-White™ costs.
https://twitter.com/PeterXinping/status/1267478706093608962?s=20
https://twitter.com/IZVVC/status/1267388363574784001?s=20
He said that the $50USD public donation was a part of a group of Miami friends on social media that were donation-matching through chain posts. He apologised that it looked like that was all the funds he had donated, and said that he’s also donated over $30k ($20,500USD) to various bail funds and other initiatives attached to the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, and will continue to donate.
“I was on the fence about publicizing total dollar amounts because I didn’t want to look like I’m glorifying only higher amounts or that I want to be applauded for it,” Vigikl Abloh wrote.
“I encourage everyone to band together to match funds of their own proportion, regardless of what you have. Every dollar counts.”
