Travis Scott Breaks Silence On Transphobia Accusations
Update 6 August: Travis Scott has finally addressed criticism following trans model Amanda Lepore's removal from his album cover.
The rapper, who celebrated his album's release at Lollapalooza with girlfriend Kylie Jenner, shared the original cover - featuring Lepore - via Instagram on Saturday.
'Thank you David LaChapelle and Amanda Lepore and everyone that came out to make all the covers and the vision come to life!' he wrote. 'ASTROWORLD IS ABOUT LOVE AND EXPRESSION NOT HATE!
EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ASTROWORLD !
A post shared by flame (@travisscott) on Aug 4, 2018 at 2:41pm PDT
'This is very important for me to speak up about: Growing up I've been taught to accept everyone, not to cast people away but bring them in your home! I have nothing but respect for the LGBTQ community,' he added in the open letter.
'I want to use my voice to make it clear that everyone on this planet is as equal and f--king awesome to the next. Me and LaChapelle set out to create images that I grew up watching him create for years that inspire me today.'
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Addressing Lepore, he joked: 'Yo, Amanda, you did upstage everyone-even me.
'I can't wait for everyone to see the booklet that me and Dave put together that includes all these images. Thank you for being a part of it. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Love you guys and THANK YOU ALL!!!'
Hours after rapper Travis Scott released his new album Astroworld he’s already under fire.
Despite rave reviews from his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, who said of the album, 'it’s the craziest ride of my life’, some aren’t best pleased.
The album artwork, photographed by legend David LaChapelle, shows models in various states of undress in front of an inflatable version of Travis' head.
A post shared by David LaChapelle (@david_lachapelle) on Jul 31, 2018 at 11:23pm PDT
One of the models is trans icon Amanda Lepore, however, she appears to be suspiciously absent from the image Scott shared himself.
Despite LaChapelle already having revealed the album, complete with a nude Lepore, Scott’s reveal showed that she had been edited out.
A post shared by Amanda Lepore (@amandalepore) on Aug 1, 2018 at 12:26am PDT
Lepore herself noticed, joking on her Instagram, ‘It was great being part of @david_lachapelle s incredible photograph of @travisscott s album cover but I’m curious why I’m not on the picture @travisscott posted 💋❤️💄 #amandalepore #glamourgirl A girl can’t help it❗️Too distracting for the eyes ❗️Upstaged everyone in the photograph ❗️Oh well........... I love @david_lachapelleand @travisscott ❗️Love and kisses 💋❤️💄’
A post shared by Amanda Lepore (@amandalepore) on Aug 3, 2018 at 1:33am PDT
Season 10 winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race Aquaria similarly noticed, and posted their findings on Twitter, writing, ‘The mysterious case of the disappearing Amanda.... hmmm’, this was followed by accusations of transphobia from Scott, ‘Hi transphobia! I just saw transphobia gurl!’
The mysterious case of the disappearing Amanda.... hmmm @trvisXX 🙄 pic.twitter.com/COflbfoHVH
- Aquaria (@aquariaofficial) August 1, 2018
TMZ is reporting that Scott received what he though was the final edit, with no knowledge of Lepore’s omission. Similarly LaChapelle says the edit was, ‘nothing to do with hating’ but failed to detail the exact reason for her absence.
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