(Raury/GQ)
Atlanta musician Raury didn’t know about Dolce & Gabbana’s ties to Donald Trump or their “boycott” campaign that makes fun of people who protest or who disagree with their politics until he was already in Milan, the day before he was supposed to walk the runway for them.
“Me, as a young man from Stone Mountain, Georgia, the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, I really felt this mockery of boycotting,” Raury told GQ. “Who knows, if boycotts didn’t happen, if Rosa Parks and M.L.K. didn’t step up…who knows if I would even exist. Boycotting matters. Boycotting is real. Dolce’s entire campaign says it’s not real.”
He said that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to walk the runway or not as he weighed out his options.
“I know that if I walk out there and support or endorse anything that sits next to Trump—or support someone who even makes dinner for Trump or whatever—then that means that I support Trump also,” he told GQ. “I don’t support Trump. So I’m trapped, and I have to let people know that I don’t support Trump and I don’t support those who are trying to undermine the voice of the people.”
So, he walked out on the runway and then took off his top at the end, showing off the phrases “Protest D&G,” “Give me freedom,” and “I am not your scapegoat” written on his skin.
— 6 members of Trump’s HIV/AIDS advisory board resign in protest —
“I never felt so alone, so terrified, yet so alive…Found myself in tears when I realized the people understood, and I’m not just screaming in the dark anymore…” Raury wrote on Instagram in describing the moment of protest. “If ur in this industry remember that there is a god, and god protects the good… so do the work when aligned to. following my heart from this day forth knowing that I am living truth… If it ever means my end so be it.”
As he told GQ, “I felt like if nothing happened, then they would be right. And that T-shirt would be right. Dolce would think they can talk sh** about people boycotting, support the first lady of a president who is very parallel to Hitler, and bring the millennials and put them in that sh** and nothing would happen. But it’s basic math. One plus two equals three. And this is what will always happen.”
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