Fashion photographers banned after being accused by male models
PHOTOGRAPHERS Mario Testino and Bruce Weber have been banned from working with some of the world’s best-known magazines amid claims they sexually exploited male models and assistants.
A series of allegations were made against the pair in an article in the New York Times.
Lawyers for 63-year-old Mr Testino, known for photographing the Royal Family, said his accusers “cannot be considered reliable sources”. US photographer Mr Weber, 71, denies the claims.
Conde Nast, which publishes fashion magazines Vogue and GQ, said it would not work with the men “for the foreseeable future”.
Mr Testino, who took the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official engagement photos and was given an honorary OBE in 2014, was accused by 13 male assistants and models of subjecting them to sexual advances.
Some claimed
the Peruvian photographer’s behaviour, going back to the mid-1990s, included groping.
Ryan Locke, a model who worked with Mr Testino on Gucci campaigns, accused him of being aggressive and flirtatious throughout shoots, adding: “He was a sexual predator.”
Photographic assistant Hugo Tillman said Mr Testino once grabbed him on the street and tried to kiss him and, a few weeks later, pinned him down on a bed until he was removed by another person.
Another assistant, Roman Barrett, added: “Sexual harassment was a constant reality.”
Mr Weber, whose work includes campaigns for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie & Fitch, as well as several films, was accused by 15 current and former models of subjecting them to unnecessary nudity and coercive sexual behaviour.
In a statement to the New York Times from his lawyer, Mr Weber said: “I’m completely shocked and saddened by the outrageous claims being made against me, which I absolutely deny.”
Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor-inchief, said the allegations against her “personal friends” have been “hard to hear and heartbreaking to confront”.
She added: “I believe strongly in the value of remorse and forgiveness, but I take the allegations very seriously, and we at Conde Nast have decided to put our working relationship with both photographers on hold for the foreseeable future.”