Kim Kardashian, Bella Hadid slammed for silence on disturbing Balenciaga campaign

They can’t bear this anymore.

Kim Kardashian and Bella Hadid are some of the celebrities who fans are demanding denounce Balenciaga for its troublesome ads featuring children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage-style harnesses.

The luxe fashion house pulled the controversial campaign Tuesday amid backlash. The next day, Balenciaga deleted every picture off of its Instagram, but left up its Story highlights — including its apology for the bad news bears.

Lest you misconstrue the social media scrub as a couture coverup, the extravagant brand maintained in a Wednesday statement to The Post that it’s business as usual.

“Balenciaga’s Instagram is periodically wiped after each campaign, collection release, etc.,” a rep noted.


Bella Hadid Balenciaga ad
Bella Hadid, 26, appeared to post then quickly delete photos from a Balenciaga campaign she was involved with.
AFP via Getty Images

The advertisements supported Balenciaga’s spring 2023 collection, which debuted this fall at paris Fashion Week.

Amid the outcry Wednesday, Hadid seemed to post then delete an Instagram carousel that included several pictures from her recent Balenciaga campaign. A Hadid rep did not return The Post’s request for comment.

The supermodel, 26, has not publicly condemned the fashion house since the bear ads were pulled. However, fans praised her for scrapping the pics.

“Thank you for deleting that other post,” one Instagrammer wrote.


A young girl holds a plush teddy bear dressed in a BDSM-style harness in this retracted Balenciaga campaign image.
A young girl holds a plush teddy bear dressed in a BDSM-style harness in this retracted Balenciaga campaign image.
Balenciaga

Kardashian, 42, is also being called upon to publicly speak out against the company. The Skims founder has a long history with Balenciaga, including posing in its winter 2022 campaign and walking in its Paris couture fashion show in July.

Fittingly, that experience will be heavily featured on Thursday’s episode of “The Kardashians” on Hulu.

A source close to Kardashian said Wednesday, “Like everyone else, Kim was incredibly upset and disturbed by the holiday campaign. As a mother, she has no tolerance for abuse or exploitation of children on any level.”

The source continued: “After speaking with the Balenciaga team privately, as well as seeing that they immediately removed the campaign images and issued a public apology, she is hopeful that they have learned from this incident and that it never happens again.”


Kim Kardashian, a mother of four, is being urged by fans to speak out against Balenciaga's recently pulled bondage-inspired campaign.
Kim Kardashian, a mother of four, is being urged by fans to speak out against Balenciaga’s recently pulled bondage-inspired campaign.
Getty Images for Baby2Baby

Fans have been flooding Kardashian’s Instagram comments, urging her to address the problematic ads.

“Nobody wants to buy anything from you. Speak up and stand for something,” one angry fan commented on her post that promoted a sale on her skin care line.

“Please speak up about Balenciaga. You cannot avoid it being that you have been such a big supporter of them,” one fan pleaded.

“When are you going to respond Kim?! Your reputation is on the line here,” another begged.

“You are a mom. Don’t let it slide,” another poked the mother of four.


Nicole Kidman Balenciaga ad on Instagram
Nicole Kidman, 55, posted this Balenciaga campaign photo to Instagram on Monday.
Instagram / nicolekidman

Hadid, Dua Lipa, Nicole Kidman and Naomi Campbell joined Kardashian in the star-studded Paris runway show. None of these ladies appears to have publicly addressed the BDSM-style ads.

Kidman posted a picture from a Balenciaga campaign to Instagram on Monday. It was still up as of Wednesday evening.

Stars like Alexa Demie, Kim Yeon-koung, Khadim Sock and Big Matthew also appeared in the winter ’22 campaign. They, too, have not publicly condemned the brand as of press time.

“Vanderpump Rules” star Lala Kent, however, called Balenciaga out in an Instagram Story, declaring on Wednesday that she’s “glad to not own one single piece of Balenciaga.”


Nicole Kidman Balenciaga ad
Kidman’s shoot for Balenciaga is now raising eyebrows.
Instagram / nicolekidman

Also Wednesday, photographer Gabriele Galimberti, who worked on the campaign, issued his own statement after the photos were pulled, maintaining that he was not responsible for what was in the images.

“I am not in a position to comment [on] Balenciaga’s choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither choose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same,” Galimberti wrote.