As part of their Monday show, The View voiced outrage that images of kids made to pose with “bondage gear” would be used to oppose grooming, drag queens, and gender transitions for kids. They were more appalled that the kids were made to pose with “ugly” clothes rather than them being made to pose with sexually explicit items they admit they can’t show on TV.
“So, fashion house Balenciaga, a very, you know, posh, is under fire for a controversial fetish-themed ad campaign featuring child models,” co-host Joy Behar explained the situation. “Balenciaga blames the production company for the ads. They have a kid posing with S&M stuff. But the set designer says Balenciaga executives were on the set; they knew what was happening.”
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin didn’t hesitate to lash out at the “far-right” for using this incident to warn the public of child exploitation. She said the ad campaign was “particularly distasteful in this moment” because “there's growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment right now and how it's being framed is as portraying, you know, trans people as groomers.”
Farah Griffin warned, “This is a term you'll hear on the far-right. They're groomers. This is where you get the anti-drag queen stuff that we're seeing.” She also whined that “Balenciaga played right into their hands by having kids in a sexualized manner carrying something that, you know, represents sex acts.”
She described the disgusting photoshoot as just a “misstep” and proclaimed it “a dangerous time to even give credence to those kind of insane takes.”
In an apparent attempt to distract from the child exploitation, racist co-host Sunny Hostin worked to stir up outrage at how “ugly” the bondage gear was:
HOSTIN: Yeah. I mean, we can't even show the picture because it's so distasteful. But what's also very distasteful is Balenciaga lately, I mean, their stuff is just ugly.
[Laughter]
The bag that the little girl is holding is ugly. Do you remember when Kim K was dressed in Balenciaga for the Met Gala?
BEHAR: She loves it.
[Picture of Kim Kardashian appears on screen]
HOSTIN: Look at that. She looked like a bat or something. So, they are – I don't know what they're doing.
“I don't know if their intent is to be subversive and draw attention to the issues or are they just making ugly things,” she scoffed at the brand.
Co-host Sara Haines appeared to be gearing up to blast the company’s “bureaucracy” for approving the minors with bondage materials but was interrupted by Hostin, who was continuing to go off on how ugly the clothes were. “They like the ugly stuff! It's like been happening over and over again. They had a garbage bag shaped like a trash bag, and it was $1,790,” Hostin exclaimed.
“What I don't understand is how they can sue somebody when they designed a bag for their holiday season. The bag is shaped like a teddy bear wearing bondage gear,” co-host Ana Navarro lamented. “You got to look inside your house because you’ve got people who are not doing their job well and who have no damn common sense.”
There was no discussion about how this could harm the young minors involved.
The View’s indifference to child exploitation was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Etsy and Procter & Gamble. Their contact information is linked so you can let them know.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
November 28, 2022
11:23:46 a.m. EasternJOY BEHAR: So, fashion house Balenciaga, a very, you know, posh, is under fire for a controversial fetish-themed ad campaign featuring child models. Okay? Balenciaga blames the production company for the ads. They have a kid posing with S&M stuff. But the set designer says Balenciaga executives were on the set; they knew what was happening.
Are they taking a page from Trump's notebook and say[ing], “I didn't know? I know nothing. I know nothing, I say nothing. I say knowing.” What's going on here?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I found this ad campaign particularly distasteful in this moment. So, there's this -- there's growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment right now and how it's being framed is as portraying, you know, trans people as groomers. This is a term you'll hear on the far-right. They're groomers. This is where you get the anti-drag queen stuff that we're seeing.
BEHAR: Right.
FARAH GRIFFIN: So, Balenciaga played right into their hands by having kids in a sexualized manner carrying something that, you know, represents sex acts. It was a really bad misstep at a moment where it's just kind of a dangerous time to even give credence to those kind of insane takes.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yeah. I mean, we can't even show the picture because it's so distasteful. But what's also very distasteful is Balenciaga lately, I mean, their stuff is just ugly.
[Laughter]
The bag that the little girl is holding is ugly. Do you remember when Kim K was dressed in Balenciaga for the Met Gala?
BEHAR: She loves it.
[Picture of Kim Kardashian appears on screen]
HOSTIN: Look at that. She looked like a bat or something. So, they are – I don't know what they're doing. I don't know if their intent is to be subversive and draw attention to the issues or are they just making ugly things.
ANA NAVARRO: What I don't understand is how they can sue somebody when they designed a bag for their holiday season. The bag is shaped like a teddy bear wearing bondage gear. Now, it takes hundreds of people --
HOSTIN: And it’s very ugly.
NAVARRO: It takes hundreds of people in a fashion house like Balenciaga to approve a design, to approve an ad campaign.
So, I'm sorry, you guys. I know you're trying to cover your ass, but you got bigger problems than – You got to look inside your house because you’ve got people who are not doing their job well and who have no damn common sense.
SARA HAINES: And anyone who's worked in a company, it doesn't take a fashion house. Any company you work in, we all complain of bureaucracy and how many nets and loops and how many eyeballs and lawyers and standards have to look at every single thing. There is no world in which that was not seen on the front end on the set, seen to approve the pictures --
HOSTIN: They like the ugly stuff! It's like been happening over and over again. They had a garbage bag shaped like a trash bag, and it was $1,790.
HAINES: Were they the potato chip bag too?
HOSTIN: Yes!
HAINES: Oh my gosh!
[Crosstalk]
NAVARRO: Don’t you remember what’s her name? Kim Kardashian was wrapped in crime tape that said Balenciaga from head to toe?
HOSTIN: I don’t remember that one.
NAVARRO: It must have hurt to take off.
HAINES: Maybe we're getting punk'd.
[Crosstalk]
HAINES: May the purpose of this campaign is to get us to say –
HOSTIN: Is it a subversive campaign?
BEHAR: For the record, Kim Kardashian who was the ambassador for this brand, is re-evaluating her relationship with Balenciaga.
HOSTIN: Yeah.
BEHAR: Okay? So, just saying.
HOSTIN: And I have a legal note.
BEHAR: We have a note.
HOSTIN: Balenciaga has apologized and is taking legal action against --
BEHAR: Their clothes?
HOSTIN: -- the production company North Six and set designer Nicholas Desjardins. An agent for Desjardins said everyone from Balenciaga was on the shoot and was present on every shot and worked on the edit of every image in post-production, adding that he's being used as a scapegoat and is hiring a legal team. North Six has declined to comment on the allegations.
