You’ve got to give it to Russell Brand – he’s not just a pretty face (or, according to some, he’s not a pretty face at all), he also knows his shit and is passionate about politics. That’s why, when he turned up at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London this week, he called out the city’s mayor, Boris Johnson (who collected the Politician of the Year trophy, despite the fact that no one else could have really won it) as well as the event’s sponsor, Hugo Boss. Shit got real. There was a Nazi salute involved.
Here’s Brand’s speech (via DS):
“Glad to grace the stage where Boris Johnson has just made light of the use of chemical weapons in Syria,” Brand started. “Meaning that GQ can now stand for genocide quips.
“I mention that only to make the next comment a bit lighter because if any of you know a little bit about history and fashion, you’ll know Hugo Boss made the uniforms for the Nazis.
“But they did look f**king fantastic, let’s face it, while they were killing people on the basis of their religion and sexuality.”
Brand reportedly then saluted the crowd before alluding to Hitler by saying: “He might not know it [but] he’s flying off the shelves.”
Oh, dear. The Sun claims that Brand was thrown out soon after after shouting “Nazi sympathisers!” And, of course, Russell needed the last word, so he headed to Twitter with the following message on Wednesday:
GQ editor: "What you did was very offensive to Hugo Boss." Me:" What Hugo Boss did was very offensive to the Jews." #GQAwards #nazitailor
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) September 4, 2013
Huh. Fair enough. I don’t know the history of the situation, to be honest. And, while I think it’s disgusting if what he’s saying is true, why head out to the event of something you’re against just to raise hell? I mean, I suppose he made an impact, but it just seems a bit intense.
Yes, Hugo Boss did indeed design the Nazi uniforms. However, this was a pretty cheap way to call out Johnson about Syria (which did actually need to be done).
Everyone needs to stop comparing things to the Nazis and to Hitler. No one are Nazis or Hitler except Nazis and Hitler.
Very intense…. Many companies made products for the Germans. Adi Dassler (Adidas) made footwear for the German military prior to quitting the Nazi party, Geze Ironworks made components for the ovens used in the camps, more recently they made ski bindings. VW was started by the Nazi party….hell, there is evidence suggesting Ford motors as helping the Nazis, not sure if its true however
Yeah. Volkswagen, Siemens, Chanel… Many European brands collaborated openly with the Nazis.
Howdy Sunshine, how have you been? Spent the heatwave in Scotland this summer, had a blast….
They’ve already made it clear that Hugo Boss produced (with slave laborers) but didn’t design the nazi uniforms. If Russell is going to complaint he should also research a little. http://racked.com/archives/2011/09/22/hugo-boss-produced-uniforms-for-german-armed-forces-waffen-ss-during-world-war-ii.php
He went IN!! I love it. Anything to make Johnson and the posh toff elite uncomfortable.