As Kanye West prepares to unveil the fourth collection from his Yeezy apparel line, the mogul’s model casting criteria has some fans livid.
In preparation for the NYFW presentation of YEEZY season 4, a Tweet was sent from Kanye’s personal Twitter page on Saturday providing specific details about what type of models he was looking for to be part of the show. In addition to time and location details, the tweet also include the words, “Multiracial women only, no makeup please come as you are.”
Moments later, social media erupted in backlash. Many fans saw the tweet as indirectly asking for lighter-skinned models only and accused Kanye of excluding darker-skinned models from participating in the show.
I could potentially buy yalls 'in assuming he means light-skin you're excluding darkskin multiracial people' except…Kanye. This ain't new
— Carolina Bama (@Awkward_Duck) September 4, 2016
we all know that by "multiracial women" kanye means light skin women with loose curls let's not play.
— anna (@brattydarko) September 4, 2016
Some even felt his request was looking to exclude Black women completely, while others took the tweet to mean ‘no white models.’
I am almost certain this Kanye 'multiracial' thing was just a polite way of saying NO WHITE PEOPLE. Not no dark skin vs light skin 🙁
— m4ndy (@gigic0ffee) September 5, 2016
A few fans came to Kanye’s defense, reminding those criticizing the casting criteria that all of his past shows have included Black models.
@KatchKenda i read the thread and so what? he's always had black women in his shows? a lot of black women! you're crying about one show.
— Jomo Boxing (@JomoBoxing) September 3, 2016
Given that Kanye’s Yeezy Season 3 show featured Black models exclusively, combined with the fact that he’s made it a point to feature a diverse selection of models of color in each of his shows thus far, it seems there’s always a method to Kanye’s madness. Looks like we’ll just have to wait and see to determine what he was really asking for. Yeezy Season 4 will air on E! on Wednesday, September 7.