The onslaught continues for Mario Testino, who has officially been ruled out of photographing the royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after it was claimed by 13 male models and former assistants that he behaved inappropriately.
Insiders of the fashion industry allege Testino had been the first choice of the couple, who are now striking him from their list after the accusations of sexual exploitation emerged. The 13 claimants state that his actions included groping, masturbation, and attempts to seduce employees, according to the New York Times.
A favorite of the royals, having taken the likes of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s engagement photos as well as the last official portraits of Princess Diana, Testino was earlier this week denounced by fashion giant Conde Nast, who insist they are no longer commissioning him for shoots across their entire catalog of publications.
A fashion source told The Telegraph:
There is no doubt Testino was the front runner to do Harry and Meghan’s wedding. They didn’t use him for their engagement photos but by then rumours were already circulating about Mario. He won’t be used now.
A spokesman for Prince Harry and Markle added that they aren’t currently commenting.
Testino denies all of the allegations. His lawyers state the supposed victims “cannot be considered reliable sources,” and called into question their mental health.
Lead photo by Drew Coffman via Unsplash.
[via The Telegraph]
" His lawyers state the supposed victims “cannot be considered reliable sources,” and called into question their mental health."
When you got nothing else, this is a good legal position to take,14+ people and Conde Nast are crazy...
Due process...due process...due process.
IMO...
And again...religion, politics etc. not compatible with our thing. is this the only kind of news that can be covered on here now?
GoPro is axing the Karma
Apple dropped the "new" iMac Pro and updated FCPx
CES was on
etc etc etc.
I'm with you on the due process because I feel like this has become a witch hunt and many people with very normal sexual advances are being accused of sexual misconduct and then lumped in with rapists. However, when 14 different models accuse you and you are in a very sexual industry anyway... it seems wildly unlikely that the accusations are false or that all 14 of them are "crazy." So I've basically contradicted myself and I'm not sure what should happen.
Don't be. Your first instinct is the right one IMO. There is now a piling on effect and the instant someone calls attention to it all of a sudden they are lumped in with rapists and man-children.
Let the law do it's thing and evaluate THE FACTS which can differ greatly from OPINIONS or FEELINGS.
I've whistled at my fair share of women passing by in my past days...what now, am I a sexual harasser or abuser?
To many women, yes, you are a harasser, and you deserve to be shamed, because wolf whistles are now considered obscene.
I agree with you 100% Lee. I guess the key words here are "accuse you" and you can technically "accuse" anyone of anything. And what's going on right now (or at least it feels like) is as soon as someone is "accused" of something, they are pretty much instantly tried and face repercussions right away.
Strength in numbers and everyone could use a little income bump. Whats the saying ? Guilty until proven innocent?"
i just spoke to the queen and she asked me to do the wedding. i told her i was the best because i shot in (P)rincess mode and in jpeg. she didn't like the edginess of how raw sounded. god save the queen.
I heard they were going to hire IMagery by Lesa Hall
The problem with such allegations these days is that once the headline is out, the carreer is over either way. Even if the verdict says “not guilty”.
Who's behind and trying to take advantage of all this?
So sad that you don't have to be proved guilty anymore, just accused somewhere down the road (maybe even over 7 years down the road, way after the statute of limitations has run out to charge someone) and that's it, you're done. No evidence, no trial, no defending yourself, no appeal, no innocent until proven guilty, just an accusation and you're done. If the people actually did what they are accused of, what were they sentenced to after they were put on trial? They weren't put on trial? They never went to trial? They were never even formally charged? Oh I see we live in Nazi Germany, Guilty until proven innocent, oh wait no trial just the gas chamber, quick and easy, that way.
Reminds me of the old Salem Witch trials, dunk her in water until she drowns, if she saves herself she’s a witch, if she drowns maybe she’s still a witch but at least now she’s dead. Yeah we all know how that worked out don't we. If we don't learn from History it’s bound to repeat itself.
I was even 'accused' once of 'possibly' taking inappropriate photos of an over 18 model once at a photo-shoot until I voluntarily turned over my DSLR and let both the model and the head photographer review all the photos I had taken (literally over 800 photos from the beginning to the end) and guess what? NO inappropriate photos were on my camera. Well there could have been but thank you for letting us review your photos to make sure there weren't; Guilty Until Proven Innocent. But so sad that I needed to turn over my camera for review ‘search and seizure’ to prove I was innocent. But you could have been guilty, no I couldn’t because I knew I didn’t ever do anything wrong. But you could have, but I didn’t.
No charges were ever filed against me and none are pending. Currently I have no ‘accusations’ against me either. Hopefully that should never change but how does the saying go? Every man who was born with a penis is capable of Rape and / or Sexual Assault the only reason he hasn't ever done it is maybe he's just not man enough to do it, right? Or maybe he's a proper man who would never do such a thing. Nah, we'll stick with the first answer.
Everybody now, "Witch! Witch! You're a witch!" and back to Salem we shall go.