When you think of free speech, the GLAAD Media Awards probably don’t leap to mind. After all, GLAAD is the self-appointed pro-LGBT speech police [1], and it gives awards to media outlets and figures that toe the line. But nobody told actress Zoe Saldana.
After Dolce & Gabbana made comments critical of in vitro fertilization and affirming the concept of the traditional family, celebrities including Ricky Martin vowed to join Elton John’s purported boycott of their luxury fashion brand.
But when asked by E! News if she would boycott D&G, the Guardians of the Galaxy star Saldana said Domenico Dolce was “allowed” to have his own opinion [2].
“No! Not at all, that would be the stupidest thing if it affected my fashion choice,” Saldana said when asked at the 2015 GLAAD Media Awards if she planned to boycott D&G. “People are allowed to their own opinion; however, I wouldn't have chosen to be so public about something that’s such a personal thing.”
At the same GLAAD event, Ellen DeGeneres told E! News [3] that she would never wear Dolce & Gabbana clothing “ever, ever again.”
Star Trek actress Saldana, who is herself a new mother of twin boys, earned the headline “Zoe Saldana Won't Boycott Dolce & Gabbana, is Super Casual About Hate” from lefty feminist rag Jezebel [4] for her remarks to E! News.
Dolce came under fire from John and other celebrities [5] after being quoted by Italy’s Panorama magazine as saying [6] “The only family is the traditional one … “You are born to a mother and a father – or at least that’s how it should be.”
He and Stefano Gabbana have since told CNN [7] that the views expressed in the interview were personal beliefs and that they love and respect gay couples (they were one for many years). Avoiding the brand because of the design team’s personal views would be “medieval,” Gabbana told CNN last week.
“Boycott Dolce & Gabbana for what? They don't think like you? This is correct? This is not correct. We are in 2015. This is like medieval. It’s not correct,” he said.