Music icon Elton John took to his official Instagram to respond to a recent Dolce & Gabbana interview with designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana that featured controversial comments on the concept of family. Celebrating their brand under the banner of family, Dolce and Gabbana talked to Italian magazine Panorama about their thoughts on the subject. Huffington Post offered up a translation of the feature, which included comments from Dolce that claimed that children born as a result of IVF are “children of chemistry, synthetic children. Uteruses for rent, semen chosen form a catalogue.” Dolce continued, “I am gay, I cannot have a child. I guess you cannot have everything in life.” He added, “Life has a natural course, some things can not be changed. One of them is family.”
John, who had two children by surrogate with husband David Furnish responded, “How dare you refer to my beautiful children as ‘synthetic’. And shame on you for wagging your judgemental little fingers at IVF – a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfill their dream of having children. Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again. #BoycottDolceGabbana”
The Mirror reports that in 2006, Gabbana had shared, “I am opposed to the idea of a child growing up with two gay parents. A child needs a mother and a father. I could not imagine my childhood without my mother. I also believe that it is cruel to take a baby away from its mother.”
Unfazed by comments in support of Elton John, designer Stefano Gabbana took to his Instagram to defend the opinions of himself and Dolce. Comments included “#boycottdolcegabbana because is different! And you hate the different opinion!! Racist Dictators” and “#boycottdolcegabbana is the new black”
Releasing a formal statement on the controversy, Gabbana shared that “it was never our intention to judge other people’s choices. We do believe in freedom and love.” Meanwhile, Dolce added that his views on family are based on his own Sicilian upbringing “made up of a mother, a father and children. I am very well aware of the fact that there are other types of families and they are as legitimate as the one I’ve known.” He continues that they offered their opinion “without judging other people’s choices.” Dolce and Gabbana had previously been a couple for 23 years before their split in 2005.
