André Leon Talley Calls Out Anna Wintour Over Apology To ‘Vogue’ Staff – Warritatafo
André Leon Talley, 71, once had a close working relationship with Vogue Editor-In-Chief Anna Wintour, 70, as her magazine’s editor-at-large between 1998-2013. Given this history, it was a big deal when the esteemed Black fashion journalist spoke out after his former close confidant owned up to race-related “mistakes” and Vogue’s lack of diversity in an internal memo addressed to her Black staff members that surfaced on June 10. First off, André pointed out that Anna’s memo surfaced at the same time Samira Nasr was n
Talley was the first Black editor-in-chief of Vogue’s competitor, Harper’s Bazaar, a magazine that is 153 years old.
André Leon Talley was appointed the fashion news director of Vogue in 1983, and assumed the role of creative director in 1988. He eventually served as the editor-in-large betwen 1998-2013. He is pictured here with Anna Wintour at a fashion show. (Shutterstock) “That is news, groundbreaking,” André told Sandra Bernhard on her SiriusXM show, Sandyland, on June 11. “This has impacted [Anna], clearly that statement comes because this girl [Samira] is going to run competition rings around her, [Anna’s] power base has been somewhat affected by the competition of this young African American presence who is going to be historically the first black female editor of a great, great magazine.” Moving on to his main criticism of Anna’s apology, André said, “The statement that she made, you know, the world of white privilege is complicated…The statement came out of the space of white privilege.” André questioned if Anna could ever distance herself from this privilege, adding, “I wanna say one thing, Dame Anna Wintour is a colonial broad, she’s a colonial dame. She comes from British, she’s part of an environment of colonialism.”
“That is news, groundbreaking,” André told Sandra Bernhard on her SiriusXM show, Sandyland, on June 11. “This has impacted [Anna], clearly that statement comes because this girl [Samira] is going to run competition rings around her, [Anna’s] power base has been somewhat affected by the competition of this young African American presence who is going to be historically the first black female editor of a great, great magazine.” Moving on to his main criticism of Anna’s apology, André said, “The statement that she made, you know, the world of white privilege is complicated…The statement came out of the space of white privilege.” André questioned if Anna could ever distance herself from this privilege, adding, “I wanna say one thing, Dame Anna Wintour is a colonial broad, she’s a colonial dame. She comes from British, she’s part of an environment of colonialism.”
“I do not think she will ever let anything get in the way of her white privilege,” André continued. He even compared Anna’s memo to “the man who made the announcement for the NFL,” commissioner Roger Goodell, who recently admitted that the league was “wrong for not listening to NFL players” yet didn’t name who these players were (AKA, Colin Kaepernick).
