--- title: Singer Raury Protested Dolce & Gabbana, Trump on Its Runway description: Atlanta singer Raury staged a protest of Dolce and Gabbana's politics from the Italian fashion house's own runway. canonical: https://time.com/4825919/raury-dolce-gabbana-runway-protest/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-20T22:36:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:43.139Z og:title: This Singer-Model Protested Dolce & Gabbana on the Runway og:description: "I don’t support those who are trying to undermine the voice of the people" og:url: https://time.com/4825919/raury-dolce-gabbana-runway-protest/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b096d82996a725/6988d2760a4a2268ef9ceb41/raury-dolce-gabbana-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dolce & Gabbana - Runway - Milan Men's Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Singer-Model Protested Dolce & Gabbana on the Runway twitter:description: "I don’t support those who are trying to undermine the voice of the people" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b096d82996a725/6988d2760a4a2268ef9ceb41/raury-dolce-gabbana-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why This Singer-Model Staged a Protest of Dolce & Gabbana Right on the Brand's Runway  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 20, 2017 10:36 PM UTC  MILAN, ITALY - JUNE 17: A protester is seen on the runway at the Dolce & Gabbana show during Milan Men's Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018 on June 17, 2017 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images) MILAN, ITALY - JUNE 17: A protester is seen on the runway at the Dolce & Gabbana show during Milan Men's Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018 on June 17, 2017 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images)Victor Boyko—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 20, 2017 10:36 PM UTC For their most recent collections, [Dolce & Gabbana](http://time.com/3728185/dolce-and-gabbana-viva-la-mamma-milan-fashion-week/) has enlisted youthful influencers with sizable social followings to be what they term #DGMillennials. When they tapped musician Raury for their Spring/Summer ’18 men’s runway show, however, they got more than just his 157k Instagram followers when the 21-year-old Atlanta singer staged a protest of the Italian fashion brand on their own runway. Before the finals bow, Raury removed his shirt to reveal the phrases “PROTEST DG,” “GIVE ME FREEDOM,” and “I AM NOT YOUR SCAPEGOAT” penned across his chest. In an interview with [_GQ_](http://www.gq.com/story/raury-protest-dolce-gabbana-milan-fashion-week)_,_ Raury disclosed that his decision to protest came out of [Dolce & Gabbana’s support of Melania Trump and their ](http://motto.time.com/4621785/melania-trump-dolce-gabbana-dress/)[defiance in the face](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/melania-trump-causes-controversy-new-years-dress-dolce-gabbana/)[ of backlash to their dressing the First Lady](http://motto.time.com/4621785/melania-trump-dolce-gabbana-dress/): a campaign called “Boycott Dolce & Gabbana” complete with [slogan T-shirts](https://www.instagram.com/p/BVcH1YmldrA/?taken-by=dolcegabbana) and an advertisement where [models “protested” the brand](https://www.instagram.com/p/BVHV8lvF66s/?taken-by=dolcegabbana). Raury said that he didn’t know about the Trump controversy and subsequent “Boycott D&G” campaign until the day before the runway show, after he had already arrived in Milan, but felt that he had to do something about it. “The ‘Boycott Dolce & Gabbana’ T-shirt they created completely makes a mockery of what ‘boycotting’ is,” he said. “I saw a commercial featuring the boycott T-shirt, and it looked playful and lighthearted—it was a joke. It was a troll. Me, as a young man from Stone Mountain, Georgia, the birthplace of the Klu Klux Klan, I really felt this mockery of boycotting. Who knows, if boycotts didn’t happen, if Rosa Parks and M.L.K. didn’t step up…who knows if I would even exist. Boycotting matters. Boycotting is real. Dolce’s entire campaign says it’s not real. I know that if I walk out there and support or endorse anything that sits next to Trump—or support someone who even makes dinner for Trump or whatever—then that means that I support Trump also. I don’t support Trump.” The singer was also unhappy with the way that Dolce & Gabbana’s entrepreneurial approach to protest culture as a way to sell clothes – the fashion house also [released videos of mock protests](http://fortune.com/2017/06/15/melania-trump-dolce-gabbana-boycott/). Likewise, a similar criticism was leveled at [Pepsi after it launched a resistance-themed commercial featuring Kendall Jenner](http://time.com/4726500/pepsi-ad-kendall-jenner/). For Raury, the brand’s apparent support of the Trump administration was also an issue. “It was very insulting to know that Dolce & Gabbana was selling all of this millennial, pro-forward s—t, but everything that they’re doing and saying is a step backwards,” he said. This isn’t the only controversy that has come out of the Dolce & Gabbana runway show; on Monday, [Miley Cyrus and Steffano Gabbana openly clashed on Instagram](http://time.com/4823473/miley-cyrus-dolce-gabbana-politics/) after Cyrus posted an Instagram of her brother who walked in the show and a caption that denounced Dolce & Gabbana’s politics. The designers have also [been criticized for their views on gay adoption and in-vitro fertilization](http://time.com/3745411/elton-john-dolce-gabbana-boycott-gay-adoption-synthetic-children/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4825919/raury-dolce-gabbana-runway-protest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4825919/raury-dolce-gabbana-runway-protest/"},"headline":"Why This Singer-Model Staged a Protest of Dolce & Gabbana Right on the Brand's Runway","datePublished":"2017-06-20T22:36:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:43.139Z","description":"\"I don’t support those who are trying to undermine the voice of the people\"","url":"https://time.com/4825919/raury-dolce-gabbana-runway-protest/","keywords":["Newsfeed","fashion","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b096d82996a725/6988d2760a4a2268ef9ceb41/raury-dolce-gabbana-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b096d82996a725/6988d2760a4a2268ef9ceb41/raury-dolce-gabbana-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dolce & Gabbana - Runway - Milan Men's Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018","caption":"Dolce & Gabbana - Runway - Milan Men's Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018","creditText":"Victor Boyko—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4825919/raury-dolce-gabbana-runway-protest/","name":"Why This Singer-Model Staged a Protest of Dolce & Gabbana Right on the Brand's Runway"}}]}] ```