One of Vogue magazine’s photo and video editors is walking back comments he posted on social media that seemed to be gibing rapper Megan Thee Stallion for getting shot in her foot. He claims that his comments were taken “the wrong way” by the public and artist but apologized anyway to anyone he may have offended.
Sergio Kletnoy, whose official title at the fashion magazine is entertainment director, found himself in hot water after hopping in Nicki Minaj’s Instagram Live on the evening she debuted her rebuttal diss snippet to the Grammy winner’s “HISS” song.
The Houston native’s song dropped on Jan. 26 and quickly nipped the Young Money Princess. In her song, Megan said a lot of vile things about her music nemesis, but nothing as venomous as referencing Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty’s sexual assault conviction — tossing in a line about her not being mad at Megan the artist but being mad at “Megan’s Law.” Megan’s Law requires sex offenders to register and their information to be made public.
The track prompted Nicki to hop in the booth and deliver an offering titled “Big Foot,” which some believe pushed the limits.
Minaj played the song for her followers while on Live and a few bars stood out to Kletnoy at the end, “Now listen up, Big Foot You know I got a lotta tea I went easy on you Umm (Glass-fragment-foot …).”
Kletnoy responded in the Live comments, “Not ‘fragment foot’ lol not even a whole foot?” He also posted six feet emojis in the chat. Usually, the comments quickly scroll away, but someone took a screenshot and let everyone know that he was rocking with a song that mocked the rapper’s dead mother and taunted her about getting shot in the foot by Tory Lanez.
After fans noticed the slight, they quickly put two and two together, noting that Nicki and Kletnoy have an immediate history together. The “Barbie” rapper recently was on his magazine’s cover last November and Kletnoy has posted pictures of the two of them hanging out. Now fans are calling for him to be fired.
“@voguemagazine Sergio Kletnoy crossed the line mocking domestic violence against a black woman! Action must be taken concerning this vile man,” one person posted on X.
These are all my thoughts on #sergiokletnoy 🤮 https://t.co/RVbeFKilnT pic.twitter.com/8QNgUXf6l1
— OpinionatedMe_ (@OpinionatedMe_) January 29, 2024
Another wrote, “@voguemagazine Sergio Kletnoy must go! How can he make a mockery of @theestallion Gun violence is too real to think it’s laughable or requiring an emoji!”
Others flatly blamed the “Chung-Li” emcee, writing, “Nicki sure knows how to get people fired & sued….. #sergiokletnoy #tashak.”
As more social media users began calling for Vogue to “axe him” from their staff, the director later released a statement about the careless remarks, saying they were taken out of context.
“I am a huge music lover and support many artists (especially female artists). Everyone who knows me knows I love Nicki, Megan and so many other musicians,” he wrote. “I joined a livestream from one of my fave artists and was excited to hear there’s a new song from her. I made comments that unfortunately were taken the wrong way.”
Kletnoy continued to plead his case, writing, “I never meant to mock or insult anyone and have always been a fan of both women.”
He added, “My apologies if my comments offended or hurt anyone.” His social media pages have since been made private.
