Dolce & Gabbana Founder: Elton John is an Authoritarian ‘Fascist’

A social media campaign calling for a boycott of fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana continues to pick up steam, but that doesn’t seem to bother co-founder Stefano Gabbana, who now describes singer Elton John and other gay activists as intolerant “authoritarians.” “You preach understanding, tolerance and then you attack others?” he asked.

Gabbana, who established the luxury fashion company with his business partner and former lover Domenico Dolce, spoke to Italy’s Corriere della Sera this week after the duo became the subject of a boycott led by John.

Mr. Dolce told Panorama magazine last week that children born via surrogate mothers were “synthetic,” and from a “rented uterus,” with “semen chosen from a catalog.”

“We oppose gay adoptions,” Dolce said. “The only family is the traditional one. No chemical offsprings and rented uterus: life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed.”

Almost immediately following the publication of the interview, Elton John pledged a boycott of the company’s products. Other stars soon joined him on social media using the tag #BoycottDolceGabbana.

Mr. Gabbana is now responding, and would, in essence, like critics to go kick rocks.

“I didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect this, coming from someone whom I considered, and I stress “considered”, an intelligent person like Elton John,” now says Gabbana. “I mean, you preach understanding, tolerance and then you attack others? Only because someone has a different opinion? Is this a democratic or enlightened way of thinking?”

“This is ignorance, because he ignores the fact that others might have a different opinion and that theirs is as worthy of respect as his,” Gabbana added.

“It’s an authoritarian way of seeing the world: agree with me or, if you don’t, I’ll attack you,” Gabbana says of John’s boycott. “I even posted the word ‘Fascist!’ on his Instagram.”

He continued:

Either you like somebody’s songs or you don’t. When you go to the greengrocer’s, you don’t make sure that he agrees with your views on IVF. You just want to know if he has fresh products. This whole campaign came up online.

It was created by a group of gay activists who put into our mouths words we never said. It became bigger and bigger. We are not boycotting and we will not boycott anyone.

Domenico has his ideas, he made some choices. Elton John made different choices. Different choices, different lives. Equal respect.

When asked if he thought the boycott would affect D&G sales, Gabbana, who is also against gay marriage, reportedly smiled and said, “Maybe… we’ll lose some Elton John fans, maybe we’ll get some more mums. Who knows?”