Dolce & Gabbana is once again in hot water after unveiling a series of video ads featuring a Chinese woman eating Italian dishes using chopsticks. Stefano Gabbana, the luxury brand's designer, and co-founder, even got into a heated argument with an Instagram user and made a derogatory remark about the country. The 56-year-old personality claimed his account got hacked, but people are not buying it as this is not the first time he got involved into in this kind of issues.
According to the South China Morning Post, Dolce & Gabbana's #DGLovesNaples advertising campaign also got controversial when it showed local Neopolitans as "peasant workers or pizza makers." They are alongside its posh-looking models wearing the brand's expensive dresses. Just like the controversy in China, Stefano Gabbana got into an argument on Instagram and said he would never advertise the country again. He even called its citizens "bad people," and "disgusting of Italy."
Dolce & Gabbana's ad in Beijing also received backlash when it showed its models looking high-class together with taxi drivers, garbage collectors, and street vendors. People found the ad stereotypical and insensitive.
Earlier this year, Stefano Gabbana made an offensive remark against Japanese designers in an interview with Corriere Della Sera. Gabbana said that when they die, he didn't want a Japanese designer to design for Dolce & Gabbana.
In another interview in 2015 for an Italian newspaper, Stefano Gabbana and his partner, Domenico Dolce, opposed letting a child grow with same-sex parents. He even called children born through IVF "synthetic." A lot of people retorted the couple's comments including Elton John, who has two kids with his husband, David Furnish, per Daily Mail.
"How dare you refer to my beautiful children as 'synthetic," Elton John asked in a post on Instagram. The British singer even said that Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce should be ashamed for judging IVF that gave people a chance to have kids. He then swore that he would never wear Dolce & Gabbana again and even used a hashtag saying to boycott the brand.
Stefano Gabbana also criticized Selena Gomez in June when an Italian Instagram account shared side-by-side photos of the 26-year-old singer. "She's so ugly," he commented on the post. He even mocked the actress' fans by sharing a screenshot of "My name is Selena!!! #saysorrytome" with laughing emojis on an Instagram story.
Lastly, Stefano Gabbana also called the fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni "cheap" while wearing her Dior wedding gown. The 31-year-old fashion designer then commented that the cancellation of Dolce & Gabbana's fashion show in China is "Karma."
