Virgil Abloh Bail Donation Controversy / "Virgils"

Overview

Virgil Abloh Bail Donation Controversy refers to the backlash Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director and founder of clothing brand Off White Virgil Abloh faced after sharing that he had donated $50 to a Miami bail fund during the 2020 George Floyd Protests, which many felt was inadequate considering his wealth and the high price of items at his store. The donation was mocked on Twitter, leading Twitter users to joke about the donation by calling 50 dollar sums "Virgils."

Background

During the 2020 George Floyd Protests, many people shared on social media that they had donated money to funds for bailing out protestors arrested by police while encouraging others to match their donations. A commonly donated sum was $50. On May 31st, 2020, Virgil Abloh, the menswear artistic director for Louis Vuitton, posted to his Instagram stories that he had donated $50 dollars to a Miami bail fund.^[1]

Developments

The donation led many to believe that $50 was all Abloh had donated. This led to intense criticism of Abloh, particularly in light of the expensive items sold by his brands. Twitter user Ourfa Zinali^[2] wrote, "Virgil Abloh, founder of Off White & artistic creator of LOUIS VUITTON really had the nerve to share his $50 donation. The audacity. That’s not even half the amount of one his damn keychains. My Off White bags will be going up for sale this week," gaining over 1,100 retweets and 4,400 likes (shown below, left). User @big_business^[3] wrote, "Virgil Abloh selling socks that's worth the same as mortgages and said here's $50 my brother fight the power," gaining over 3,700 retweets and 11,000 likes (shown below, right).

This led users to make "Virgil" a slang term for $50. In particular, a popular joke was saying "Imma keep it 2 Virgils" instead of "Imma keep it 100." For example, Twitter user @ohthatsjustdanny^[4] wrote, "Imma keep it 2 Virgils,this shit funny as hell," gaining over 2,600 retweets and 8,800 likes (shown below). User @DadeSouf^[5] joked, "Y’all remember when Wilt Chamberlain dropped 2 Virgils?", referring to Chamberlain's 100 point game (shown below, right).

Abloh later clarified that the donation was only a small portion of the donations he had given in total. He posted on his Instagram, "i also joined a social media chain of friends who were matching $50 donations. i apologize that appeared to some as if that was my only donation to these important causes.” He later added, “i have donated $20,500 to bail funds and other causes related to this movement.”^[6]

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