Kate Upton Slams Guess for Employing Paul Marciano in #MeToo Post
Guess who's not so happy with her former employer right now?
Kate Upton is speaking out against Guess, the brand that helped make the model famous, and its chief creative officer and former co-CEO Paul Marciano, known as the "genius" behind the denim house.
On Wednesday, the newly married model/actress took the company to task, tweeting, "It’s disappointing that such an iconic women’s brand @GUESS is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director." She ended the tweet with a potentially telling hashtag: "#metoo."
The "MeToo" hashtag began being used around the Internet shortly after a wave of allegations of rape, sexual assault and harassment were made against now-fallen film producer Harvey Weinstein, who has denied the claims. Many women and men, celebrities and non-celebs alike, came forward online about past abuse, trauma and harassment. The movement has sought to shed light on decades of abuse, intimidation, harassment and rape that has been covered up by both Hollywood and the media.
The 25-year-old, who modeled for the brand in 2012, also took to Instagram to make her position clear, reposting a photo of the tweet along with the caption, "He shouldn’t be allowed to use his power in the industry to sexually and emotionally harass women #metoo."
Upton's new husband, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, retweeted Upton’s #metoo tweet.
Upton has not elaborated or given further details on her "me too" experience.
As for the story behind Marciano, the Moroccan-born American designer co-founded the denim powerhouse with his brothers back in 1981. In 2015, he stepped down from his position as the brand's chief executive officer, but moved over to Executive Chairman and has remained Guess' chief creative officer.