Gabriella Karefa-Johnson breaks her silence after being attacked by Kanye West.
The Vogue editor and stylist, who was ridiculed by the rapper after she criticized the White Lives Matter T-shirts he included in his Yeezy show during Paris Fashion Week, took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday night to share those thanking her during the ordeal.
“Today literally said ‘Hiiiii-yah!’ *roundhouse kick in the face, very Mortal Kombat,” wrote Karefa-Johnson.
‘Your girl has been through it! I am exhausted, but I am so touched and grateful for the outpouring of love I have received (here and elsewhere) in the past 24 hours. I feel so blessed to be a part of a community that would appear before me.”
The 30-year-old style star continued: “One thing about me: I will always speak my mind and always try to honor my truth. My thoughts are mine, and I stand by them. Thank you all for supporting me in that.”
Indeed, Karefa-Johnson didn’t shy away from sharing her thoughts on West’s controversial design choices as she sat front row at his runway show on Monday.
The acclaimed editor shared a video of her live reaction to the “White Lives Matter” shirts on social media, calling them “pure violence.”
“There is no excuse, there is no art here,” she said at the time. “I think if you asked Kanye, he’d say there was art, and revolution, and all that stuff in that T-shirt. There isn’t.”
Her criticism did not go down well with West, who publicly basked Karefa-Johnson’s style on his Instagram.
“This isn’t a fashion man,” West captioned a since-deleted photo of the editor wearing brown boots, a striped knit skirt, a yellow graphic tee, and a corduroy trench coat with a bright blue Balenciaga purse.
In a separate post, he zoomed in on the boots, writing, “I KNOOOOOW ANNA HAAAATES THESE BOOTS,” referring to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
Though West claimed he and Karefa-Johnson met for hours on Tuesday night and “actually get along,” the stylist received a spate of body-shameful comments following the rapper’s taunting comments.
“I’ve been experiencing some serious volatility in the past few days, but nothing is worse than what people have said about my body and how I look,” Karefa-Johnson wrote in a separate Instagram post on Wednesday, alongside a photo of her laughing at the leaving the Balenciaga show.
“The fat phobia jumped out. Yes, I’m fat. No, I’m not humiliated to appear in the world as my authentic self,” she continued, adding that she’s “worked hard” to feel confident in her body.
The fashion editor received an outpouring of support from people around the world — and in her inner circle — following West’s social media rant.
Gigi Hadid scolded the “Danda” rapper — twice — for his treatment of Karefa-Johnson, calling West a “bully.”
“You wish you had a percentage of her intellect. You have no idea haha… If there really is a point to one of your s–ts, she might be the only person who can save you,” Hadid, 27, responded under West’s original message.
“As if the ‘honour’ of being invited to your show should stop anyone from speaking up..? LOL. You’re a bully and a joke.”
The next day, Vogue issued a statement in defense of the editor.
“Vogue sits alongside Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, our global fashion editor at large and long-time contributor. She was personally attacked and bullied. It is unacceptable,” the publication shared in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“Now more than ever, voices like hers are needed and in a private meeting with Ye today, she once again spoke her truth in the way she felt best, on her terms.”
Numerous other celebrities have spoken out about West’s widely condemned T-shirts and defense of his designs — including Sean “Diddy” Combs and West’s former sister-in-law, Khloé Kardashian.