Fashion mogul Karl Lagerfeld did not have kind things to say about French President Francois Hollande and his tax plans for the country in a recent Marie Claire interview.
“This idiot will be as disastrous as Zapatero,” Lagerfeld said, referring to Spain’s former prime minister Jose Luis Rodrigo Zapatero, who was in charge during the country’s economic collapse.
Lagerfeld, the creative director of Chanel, spoke out against Hollande’s well-known distaste for the rich and his plan to tax French millionaires 75 percent on their income.
“Hollande hates rich people, he wants to punish them, and as a result they’re all clearing off and no one wants to invest.”
“Foreigners don’t want to put their money in France,” he added. “Outside of fashion, jewelry, perfume and wine, France is not competitive. Nothing else sells. Who buys French cars? Not me.”
One-time presidential nominee Ségolène Royal, a socialist and former partner of Hollande, came to the president’s defense in a French radio interview.
“There is no place for insults, especially from a designer who benefits from the image and prestige of France,” Royal said.
“When one is working in the French luxury sector, one enjoys the collective backing of the entire nation and these insults are absolutely misplaced,” she said.
“I hope he will apologize.”