Celebrity News

Dolce and Gabbana bolt from pro-IVF speech

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who spoke out against adoption by LGBT families and in vitro fertilization last year, walked out during a speech by amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost that touched on the subject during a gala in São Paulo.

The design duo caused an uproar last year when Dolce proclaimed in Italian mag Panorama that IVF children were “synthetic.” “I’m not convinced with what I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Rented uterus, semen chosen from a catalog,” he said.

The comments enraged celebs like Elton John and led to a short-lived boycott of the brand. They later apologized in Vogue. “I’ve realized that my words were inappropriate, and I apologize. They are just kids . . . I think everybody chooses for themselves. I don’t know everything about IVF, but I love it when people are happy,” Dolce said.

Kevin Robert FrostGetty Images

But it seems the pair are still uncomfortable about the topic. “My husband and I have twin boys,” CEO Frost said in a speech in front of a crowd including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Riccardo Tisci. “I realize that people have different ideas of what is a family, but I want to assure you that there’s nothing artificial about my family. And there’s nothing synthetic about our twin boys.”

“Dolce and Gabbana got up and left the room,” says a witness, who added, “Everyone was astonished.”

But a rep for amfAR insisted: “D&G left later in the evening and not during Mr. Frost’s speech. Mr. Frost spoke about how important it was to understand the connection between the fight against AIDS and the fight for gay rights. He showed a picture of his family, including his husband and twin boys, to illustrate the point that when someone says something that is hurtful about gay families, it makes the fight against AIDS harder.”

A rep for the fashion house did not respond to requests for comment. The evening, which included a performance by Ricky Martin — who has twin sons born via surrogate — raised $1.6 million.