Rogue model protests Angela Merkel by unfurling handwritten death-threat note during runway show

"Please Kill Angela Merkel — Not," read a passive-aggressive hand-scrawled sign held up by a rogue model during a Rick Owens fashion show in Paris Thursday.
A statement released immediately following the stunt — committed by a model identified as Jera by Women's Wear Daily — explained that Owens had no part in the silent protest of the German chancellor. "Rick Owens does not claim responsibility for the act of protest by a model at the Spring Summer 2016 show. This was an independent statement and does not reflect the opinion of the house of Rick Owens."
Owens, a noted designer popular among hip-hop's fashion intelligentsia (Kanye West and Jay Z are fans), is no stranger to controversy — he made headlines last season when several of his designs exposed parts of his model's penises — but the stunt seemed a bridge too far for the designer. "It's a crazy, rogue, f--king model that I punched when he came back out," Owens told WWD. "Please say that I punched him," he added.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ironically, Owens also said the collection, called "Cyclops," has an underlying theme of understanding and dismantling male aggression.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
August 23 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purge
Cartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play