On Sunday night, two women who’d labeled fashion stylist Ian Connor a rapist online began receiving threats via Twitter direct message from him.
In one instance, he threatened to “spit” in a woman named Daniella’s face “when I catch you,” and claimed to hunt her down through her IP address. “I’ll show you what disrespect gets you,” he warned. I personally know Daniella, and she claims all she did was send out a tweet accusing Connor of being a “rapist” (Connor has a long history of spending hours searching through Twitter for his name and trolling those who cross him). When I shared the revolting messages, another woman reached out to me in my replies with a similar story: Connor crashed into her DMs issuing a threat that “niggas can catch you.”
Ten women (and counting) have accused Connor of rape—making the diminutive stylist the Bill Cosby of the fashion world. The first accusation landed online in April, with college student Malika Anderson penning a blog post titled, “Ian Connor Is a Rapist, and I Know Firsthand”—a harrowing story alleging that Connor raped her on Oct. 5, 2014, and expressing her frustration with the way local police handled her report.
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“I am speaking now because my case is basically closed. And I am finally ready to share my entire story,” wrote Anderson. “I want the world to know who they are praising… I know the truth. And I know that I did not want to have sex with Ian Connor. He raped me.”
Anderson’s claim was followed by another blog post from Jean Deaux titled “For Malika,” where the artist claimed that Connor sexually assaulted her as well. When I spoke to Amber Rose in June, the host of The Amber Rose Show said “21 women have reached out to me so far” about Connor, alleging that he’d sexually assaulted them (Rose runs a popular annual SlutWalk). Connor, meanwhile, has yet to be formally charged with a crime.
Connor also has a troubling history of voicing his disdain for sexual consent on Twitter, including a revolting (and now deleted) tweet from January 2013 saying, “If I Eat You Out or Buy You Something You Have No Choice but To Fuck Me. I’m As Serious As Can Be With This One.”
Last month, a video went viral of Connor sucker-punching rapper Theophilus London in a Paris store—right in front of A$AP Bari and A$AP Rocky (Connor is an A$AB Mob affiliate). The fight continued outside, where A$AP Bari swung on Connor in the streets.
After the fight, London put Connor on Twitter blast, calling him a “dirty fucking rapist” who tried to hide “dirty boxers under my sink” in order to cover up “two [rape] charges already added to the 10 u got.” Both London and A$AP Bari threatened to fight Connor if they ever came across him in public again.
As I wrote in June, “For years, the hip-hop world has enabled Connor, elevating his stature by welcoming him into their inner circles, thus granting him the cachet that comes with celebrity. Connor began his ascent working closely with Wiz Khalifa, before becoming an affiliate of A$AP Mob—the rap collective led by emcee A$AP Rocky—and getting signed to A$AP’s art direction squad AWGE (A$AP Rocky even referred to Connor as ‘king of the youth’ for his streetwear rep). Connor then began collaborating with Kanye West, working on his Yeezy Season 2 fashion line and appearing as a model in the accompanying fashion show this past spring at Madison Square Garden.” On Sunday, after the harassment allegations surfaced, Connor bragged about being West’s “head creative consultant” and further said that West is paying “for my Japan living”—Connor has apparently been hiding out in Japan since the numerous rape allegations surfaced.
Kanye, as the father of a little girl, you should know better than to be employing a known predator. It’s time to cut this nauseating clown loose.
