GoldenEye/London Entertainment/Splash NewsWell, this is an unfortunate fashion faux-pas.
Elton John stepped out on Monday in Los Angeles, where he was photographed heading to a recording studio. The only problem? The music icon was snapped carrying a Dolce & Gabbana shopping bag...one day after calling for a boycott of the brand in response to designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's recent controversial "synthetic children" comments.
A spokesperson for the singer confirmed to E! News that he was indeed carrying the bag, but said that should not undermine the musician's plea for a boycott of the brand. "Yes he was carrying the bag but he hadn't been shopping. And it should not detract from their original message or the boycott."
Meanwhile, the back and forth between Dolce & Gabbana and Elton John escalated earlier this week after the designers, who are both gay and were once a couple, released a statement in response to the musician's anger over their controversial comments about children born to same-sex parents.
"You are born to a mother and a father. Or at least that's how it should be," Dolce told Italian magazine Panorama,. "I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Rented wombs, semen chosen from a catalog."
"How dare you refer to my beautiful children as 'synthetic,'" John, who has two children born via surrogate with husband David Furnish, wrote in an Instagram post in reponse on Sunday. "And shame on you for wagging your judgmental little fingers at IVF - a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfill their dream of having children."
In response to the backlash, Dolce and Gabbana each issued a statement, insisting they had no intentions to discriminate.
"I was talking about my personal view, without judging other people's choices and decisions," Dolce said. "I'm Sicilian and I grew up in a traditional family, 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...But in my personal experience, family had a different configuration. That is the place where I learnt the values of love and family."
Likewise, Gabbana echoed Dolce's sentiments in his own statement."It was never our intention to judge other people's choices. We do believe in freedom and love," he said, adding, "We firmly believe in democracy and the fundamental principle of freedom of expression that upholds it."