Ok, my friends know that one of my fav luxury brands is Gucci, however it looks like I’m going to have to start my own personal Gucci boycott! The luxury brand is being sued by former Gucci employee Josephine Robinson to the tune of $5 million dollars! Ms. Robinson alleges that Barbados-born international recording artist Rihanna was paid less because she is Caribbean. Ms. Robinson further contends that Rihanna was the brunt of many “racist comments and tasteless jokes”.
Ms. Robinson worked on Rihanns contract for the 2008 campaign ran by Gucci. Here we are in 2011 Rihanna has sold over 20 million albums, 60 million singles, won countless awards, is one of the top selling female (or male!) recording artists and racism is still an issue!
According to court records filed, when Gucci discovered Rihanna was not from the US, Ms. Robinson was instructed to “tax the hell out of her” by her former boss international tax counsel, Stan Sherwood. Alledgedly, this scheme would garner Gucci 30% of Rihannas booking fees! Outrageous, racist, greedy and ugly!
By the way, from a legal standpoint (I always have on my legal eagle cap!) I’m not sure how Ms. Robinson has standing to sue for punitive damages so her case could be thrown out. Ms. Robinson probably just wanted to expose Gucci and this rogue former employee. Rihanna on the other hand certainly has the right to sue for punitive damages! Riri you need fi sue dem baxside!
Breddren, a dem deh type a ting mek di I VEX (no translations for non-Caribbeans today Im angry)!!
