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André Leon Talley on Anna Wintour: ‘She’s a Colonial Dame’

Photo: WireImage

André Leon Talley has some words for his former friend and colleague, Anna Wintour, who issued an apology email yesterday for any “hurtful or intolerant” behavior at Vogue during her 32-year tenure as editor-in-chief. Talley, former editor-at-large at Vogue, spoke to Sandra Bernhard on her Sirius XM show about the ineffectiveness and hypocrisy of Wintour’s apology. “The statement came out of the space of white privilege. I want to say one thing: Dame Anna Wintour is a colonial broad, she’s a colonial dame (…) She’s part of an environment of colonialism,” he said. “She is entitled and I do not think she will ever let anything get in the way of her white privilege.” Talley pointed to the timing of the apology email, noting that it came shortly after the appointment of Samira Nasr as editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, the first black woman to hold that position. “Clearly, that statement comes because this girl is going to run competition rings around [Wintour],” Talley said, referring to Nasr.

Talley also compared Wintour’s statement, in which she noted that “it can’t be easy to be a Black employee at Vogue,” to commissioner of the NFL Roger Goodell’s recent statement on racism. “If you’re going to at least make a statement, name what your mistakes were and own up to it, dear. No apologies necessary, all we want is respect, that’s all we ever asked for,” Talley said, pointing out that Goodell did not even mention Colin Kaepernick by name. “All I’m asking for is human decency and kindness,” he said. Talley previously wrote about the racism and humiliation he faced at Vogue and specifically from Wintour in his memoir, The Chiffon Trenches.

André Leon Talley on Anna Wintour: ‘She’s a Colonial Dame’