MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
Elton John says he will boycott Dolce and Gabbana. The pop star is angry with the fashion designers over their comments about gay adoption and in vitro fertilization. As NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports, even though Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are gay, they were quoted as saying they are against nontraditional families.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: Dolce and Gabbana is high-end. An umbrella goes for $995. The perfume Scarlett Johansson sells is less - about a hundred dollars.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOLCE AND GABBANA AD)
SCARLETT JOHANSSON: Dolce and Gabbana - Rose The One.
BLAIR: Even though most people can't afford Dolce and Gabbana's products, the company has boutiques around the world. Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce are stars in Italy. The two men were once romantic partners. This weekend, in a popular Italian magazine, Gabbana said he would like to have a child, but that, quote, "life has its natural course. There are things that cannot be changed. One of them is family." Dolce went further. "When you're born," he said, "you have a mother and a father, or at least, that's how it should be." He called children conceived in vitro synthetic.
Elton John, who has two sons with his husband, blasted the designers on Instagram. He said he would never wear Dolce and Gabbana again and that their, quote, "archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions." But Dolce and Gabbana's views are not out of step with public opinion in Italy, says Italian columnist Beppe Severgnini. In Italy, same-sex marriage and civil unions are not legal.
BEPPE SEVERGNINI: In Italy, we are far behind on this subject.
BLAIR: Nonetheless, Severgnini disagrees with Elton John's call for a boycott. He says the designers have the right to say what they want.
SEVERGNINI: I don't want anyone to be boycotted or silenced like that. And actually, I tweeted, dear Elton John, is freedom of expression just a candle in the wind?
BLAIR: The celebrity winds seem to be blowing towards Elton John among the few who can afford Dolce and Gabbana. Courtney Love, Victoria Beckham and Ricky Martin say they, too, will boycott their products. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
