Elton stirs up storm in test tube babies row

ITALIAN designers Dolce and Gabbana yesterday accused Sir Elton John of being authoritarian, ignorant and hypocritical as a celebrity-driven row over IVF babies and gay adoption showed no sign of abating.

John, 67, stirred up a storm when he called for a boycott of the designer label in reaction to an interview in which Domenico Dolce referred to babies conceived by IVF as synthetic.

In Instagram comments that have been endorsed by celebrities including Victoria Beckham, Ricky Martin, Sharon Stone, Courtney Love and Martina Navratilova, the gay star accused the Italian duo of “wagging your judgmental little fingers at IVF”.

He wrote: “Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again. #BoycottDolceGabbana.”

The hashtag was the top trending one on Twitter in Britain yesterday and in the top three in Italy, with most posts highly critical of the Italian duo.

The designers, who are also gay and were in a long-term relationship with each other until 2005, claimed it was John who was being judgmental, not them.

Dolce said his comment that IVF was not for him should not have been interpreted as disapproval of anyone else’s choices.

“I’m Sicilian and I grew up in a traditional family, made up of a mother, a father and children,” he said.

“This is the reality in which I grew up, but it does not imply that I don’t understand different ones. I was talking about my personal view, without judging other people’s choices and decisions.”

His business partner Gabbana was so infuriated by John’s statement that he posted the comments #fascist and #boycotteltonjohn on the singer’s In- stagram page, before deleting them.

Yesterday he expressed more measured criticism.

“I didn’t expect this, coming from someone whom I considered, and I stress considered, an intelligent person like Elton John.

“I mean, you preach understanding, tolerance and then you attack others?

“Only because someone has a different opinion? Is this a democratic or enlightened way of thinking?

“It’s an authoritarian way of seeing the world: agree with me or, if you don’t, I’ll attack you.” John has two young sons with his husband, David Furnish, who were conceived through IVF and born thanks to a surrogacy arrangement.

In the original interview, in Italy’s Panorama magazine, Gabbana said he would have a child tomorrow if he could, while Dolce explained why he did not feel he could go down that road.

“You are born and you have a father and a mother,” Dolce said.

“Or at least that’s the way it should be, and that’s why I’m not convinced by children from chemistry, synthetic babies, uteruses for rent, semen chosen from a catalogue.”