No, Dior didn’t replace Bella Hadid with an Israeli model over her comments on the Israel-Hamas war

Social media users are sharing a baseless claim that Dior has dropped Bella Hadid due to the supermodel’s recent comments on the latest Israel-Hamas war. Here are the facts: CLAIM: Dior has ended its partnership with Bella Hadid because she posted a message of support for Palestinians, and the brand replaced her in a new ad campaign with Israeli model May Tager. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Hadid’s contract with the luxury fashion house ended in March 2022, long before the latest conflict, a person close to the matter told The Associated Press. And while Tager is one of several models appearing in Dior’s 2023 holiday campaign, she was also in the 2022 version — and both ads more prominently featured actor Anya Taylor-Joy. THE FACTS: Hadid, whose father is Palestinian, has repeatedly made public remarks criticizing the Israeli government and supporting Palestinians in the years since she was named a brand ambassador for Dior’s makeup in 2016. After the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out, she posted an Oct. 23 statement on Instagram, lamenting the loss of innocent lives while calling on followers to pressure their leaders to protect civilians in Gaza. When Dior released its new holiday campaign in the following days — with some ads featuring Tager — social media users tried to link the two together, suggesting without evidence that Hadid had been unceremoniously axed from the promotion due to her statement. “Dior has REPLACED Bella Hadid with an ISRAELI model in their latest campaign. This comes after Bella Hadid came out in support of Palestine,” said one post with more than 11,000 likes on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. A hashtag calling to boycott the brand also circulated on the site.

But Hadid’s contract with Dior ended more than a year ago, in March 2022, and was not extended, according to a person close to the matter who is known to the AP but insisted on anonymity. The person is not authorized to be publicly named discussing contractual matters. The person would not provide a reason for Hadid’s departure, saying only that it was a commercial decision. She was replaced by various models for her roles with Dior, none of whom are Tager, the person said. The claim that Hadid was suddenly dropped for Tager in the holiday campaign also just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Rather than suddenly being brought in to replace Hadid, Tager also appeared in Dior’s 2022 holiday marketing. She was one of several models in both campaigns, and they both centered around Taylor-Joy, who has been a global brand ambassador for Dior since 2021. A similar claim about Dior dumping Hadid over her pro-Palestinian comments circulated online in March 2021 — yet months later, she promoted Dior’s makeup for an event at the Cannes Film Festival. Last month, social media users also shared a video that replaced old footage of Hadid with fabricated audio, making it sound like she was apologizing for her remarks about Palestinians.