Boy, Bye!: Beyoncé Ditches Top Shop Amid Scandalous Allegations Surrounding Their CEO
Beyoncé heard y'all loud and clear.
ICYMI, a few weeks ago, Beyoncé was under a bit of scrutiny surrounding her Ivy Park sportswear brand's collaboration with retailer Top Shop, as their CEO, Sir Phillip Greene, faces claims of bullying, racism and sexual harassment.
Well, according to the Guardian, Bey has since bought back his share of the brand and cut all ties with the owner.
Prior to this move, Beyoncé owned 50 percent of the Ivy Park brand that launched in 2016 under the Arcadia group umbrella. Bey and Top Shop announced the joint venture in 2014, with the first collection hitting stores two years later.
Ivy Park released a statement: “After discussions of almost a year, Parkwood has acquired 100% of the Ivy Park brand. Topshop/Arcadia will fulfill the existing orders.”
In recent news, Sir Phillip Green, the CEO of the Arcadia Group (Topshop’s parent company), had been accused of sexual harassment, racism and bullying of five former employees.
According to the UK newspaper The Telegraph, the 66-year-old fashion billionaire was involved with a #metoo kind of scandal where he was under an eight-month investigation regarding these allegations. Initially, Green’s identity was obscured due to a court order but was recently outed by Lord Peter Hain, another member of Parliament.
Lord Peter stated, “What concerned me about this case was wealth, and power that comes with it, and abuse.” He also called Green a “powerful businessman using non-disclosure agreements and substantial payments to conceal the truth about serious and repeated sexual harassment, racist abuse and bullying.” Now, activists have taken to Twitter to express their concern with Beyoncé’s involvement with the company and is being urged to sever all ties with the retailer due to these allegations.
According to The Independent, one activist, Yasmeen Hassan, of campaign group Equality Now, stated, “Beyoncé has put herself forward as a women’s rights activist. She and her team need to look closely at these allegations.”
Take a look at some of the other comments below.
While the claims have yet to be proven, the mega-retailer is starting to feel the wrath. Employees have threatened to quit and shoppers are calling for boycotts of Arcadia group, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Burton.
After the bad press, Sir Phillip has since obtained a gag order against The Telegraph and released a statement denying all of the allegations.
As members of the Beyhive, we know that Queen Bey and her team will do what’s best for her brand.