MANY netizens showed disappointment in artist Cardi B after a clip of her interview at the MET Gala went viral.
While speaking with Vogue, she was asked who made her dress. Instead of giving the designer’s name, however, she said: “It’s this amazing designer, they’re Asian and everything.”
People were quick to call the comment disrespectful, taking note of how the designer probably spent months making the dress only to be reduced to their race.
Even the former managing director of Vogue, Gilbert Cheah, showed offense to the artist’s comment.
He took to Instagram to say: “For the record and recognition, and no thanks to Cardi B, the designer of her gown is Sensen Lii, who’s Chinese. The gown took two months to make. I personally think it’s boring and not even on theme, but she chose it, and should have at least remember his name, and not just that he’s Asian.”
Cardi B is a popular American rapper, best known for songs like “Bodak Yellow, “W.A.P.,” and “I Like It.”
Sensen Lii, the designer behind her dress, explained that he made the dress in association with fertile, vast black soil, which is used to plant crops and flowers, with a single black rose growing out of it.
He also mentioned that the whole dress was made with almost 3, 000 meters of organza, symbolizing the vastness of land.
In his comments, one user told the designer not to worry about Cardi B forgetting his name, because now everyone was going to know who he was.
Cardi B’s response
Following the backlash, Cardi B then posted a video to her Instagram explaining the situation, as well as addressing the comment made by Cheah.
In the video, she explained that originally, she was supposed to be posing with a podium, which she’d been practicing beforehand. On the red carpet, however, she wasn’t allowed to use the podium, and at the same time, she was being rushed to the front of the line, hence why she had a lot on her mind.
As a result of this, while being interviewed, she forgot how to pronounce her designer’s name, because she found her name to be complicated.
“I think the former director of Vogue, he got offended because I said “Asian designer,”” she said.
“I said “Asian designer” because I knew that the designer was Asian, but I wasn’t sure what nationality the designer was, and I feel like it’s offensive if I was to be like “Oh, some Chinese designer,” or “some Korean designer,” or “some Vietnamese designer,” ‘cause I feel like I don’t wanna get somebody’s nationality mixed up, so I said “Asian designer. I didn’t say that to be offensive, or to get your little Speedos in a bunch.”
She went on to say: “As a person that works in fashion, I feel like the designer and my stylist worked really hard for this theme, so for you to be kind of shady because you felt offended or whatever, it just proves why you’re the FORMER director [of Vogue.]”
She explained that while his comment was made to offend her, it instead offended all the people who worked behind the scenes, spending money, as well as time on phone calls and Zoom, just for this design.
“And for you guys talking about, “Oh, you don’t know this,” “She’s not in fashion,” “She’s not gonna get invited next year,”” she added.
“Baby, I’m Cardi B. Stop it. I’m Cardi B, okay?”
She ended the video by saying that she was going to go shopping, telling her viewers to have a good day.
Hours after the video was posted, however, she deleted it, possibly due to more backlash that she received as a result of it, given that she focused on attacking Cheah and not apologizing for forgetting Lii’s name.
Cardi B has also since posted the video numerous times on her accounts, directly mentioning Lii. One Instagram story writes: “I have to give another thank you to @windowsen I chose you because of your amazing talent and you came through really making this MET Gala a night to remember @sensenlii.”
