American fashion designer Rick Owens is known for his innovative runway shows.
The designer once used a team of energetic step dancers instead of models at a show, and sent male models down the runway with their penises dangling out at another. But even Owens wasn’t prepared for what would go down at his spring/summer 2016 menswear show in Paris Thursday morning.
A model, who is believed to be Jera Diarc, stole the show when he held up a piece of white fabric with the statement "Please Kill Angela Merkel – Not" penned across it in black marker as he walked down the runway. Angela Merkel is the chancellor of Germany.
Owens adamantly denied having anything to do with the model’s political protest, telling press after the show that he even punched the model when he got off stage.
"It's a crazy, rogue, f***ing model that I punched when he came back out," the designer told WWD, adding: "Please say that I punched him."
He told Dazed: "He's been my male muse for the past 12 years or something and I think he just felt comfortable enough to do something in a show and I’m furious."
The fashion house later released an official statement that read: "Rick Owens does not claim responsibility for the act of protest by a model at the Spring Summer 2016 show. This was an independent statement and does not reflect the opinion of the house of Rick Owens. We kindly request that all media omit or blur this image in the press."
And Jera's repercussions didn't stop there -- it appears as though his modelling agency, TIAD, has removed his profile from their site.
Looks like he won't be walking any other runway shows soon!
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