Dolce and Gabanna finally say ‘We’re Sorry’

Domenico Dolce has finally apologised for the remarks he and business partner  Stefano Gabbana made back in March that seemed to disparage the freedom of same-sex couples to become parents.  The Italian openly-gay fashion designer in an article in the September issue of ‘Vogue Magazine’ says ‘I am so sorry. It was not my intention to offend anyone.’

His highly offensive remarks about “synthetic” children and gay parenthood quickly gained notoriety and condemnation from some of  their most famous customers like a very vocal and angry Sir Elton John and Madonna calling for a worldwide boycott of the Dolce & Gabbana brand. The design duo’s attempt to clarify their remarks at the time to CNN backfired as they only served to re-iterate their extreme homophobic view on the issue.

Dolce told Vogue ‘I’ve done some soul-searching. I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I’ve realized that my words were inappropriate, and I apologize.‘ Gabanna adds that some of his original comments were fueled by the fact that he had seriously thought about being a father and that he was somewhat distraught that is not possible in Italy for gay men to adopt under the current law.

The couple (no longer romantically involved) were obviously shocked and dismayed at the speed and ferocity of the social media campaign against them that quickly went viral. In an effort to counterbalance the claims that they have internalized homophobia, Gabbana was quick to add that when they came out as a couple to the press in 1999 in Italy it was a brave and un-heard of move.

Dolce now claims ‘We shouldn’t become too rigid. We need to understand, accept everyone’. Whether this new stance that the couple have taken is purely because of the harm the boycott did to their business or a genuine claim that they really have honestly re-thought their traditional Catholic views, is a tough one to call right now.  The jury will still be out for a very long time yet.