Beyoncé severs ties with disgraced Topshop tycoon Philip Green
INDIO, CA – APRIL 14: Beyonce Knowles performs onstage during 2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Field on April 14, 2018 in Indio, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella)
Beyoncé has cut ties with Topshop owner Philip Green, after he was accused of sexual harassment and bullying.
Beyoncé’s company Parkwood has bought the Topshop tycoon’s 50 percent share in Ivy Park, a clothing line she set up with Green’s Arcadia Group in 2016.
In a statement on Thursday (November 15), Ivy Park said: “After discussions of almost a year, Parkwood has acquired 100% of the Ivy Park brand. Topshop/Arcadia will fulfil the existing orders.”
Topshop on Oxford Street, London, with Beyonce’s Ivy Park collection advertisement as it goes on sale in April 2016. (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty)
Beyoncé’s Ivy Park ends business relationship with top shop’s Philip Green
Ivy Park designs sportswear for women.
Beyoncé has been the face of Ivy Park, which first went on sale in Topshop, for the past two years.
She has modelled the clothing line’s leggings, tops and sports bras for the campaign.
“After discussions of almost a year, Parkwood has acquired 100% of the Ivy Park brand.”
Ivy Park is described as an “activewear brand co-founded by Beyoncé, made for women who want to look and feel at the top of their game” on its website.
Green was named by Lord Hain using parliamentary privilege in the House of Lords on October 24 as the businessman at the centre of a sexual harassment scandal.
It came after he won an injunction against The Daily Telegraph, preventing the newspaper from naming him as the businessman at the heart of “The British #MeToo scandal which cannot be revealed.”
Beyoncé, Philip Green and Cara Delevingne attend the Topshop Topman New York City flagship opening dinner at Grand Central Terminal on November 4, 2014 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty)
Philip Green is accused of bullying, ordering staff to take down “gay s**t”
On November 3, the Guardian published a story about a number of people who have worked with Green.
One of the allegations involves a strong reaction to the sight of posters featuring male models.
Green allegedly said: “Take down this gay s**t, this isn’t the gay s**t I want in the building.”
The Topshop owner then reportedly ripped down the posters, according to the anonymous source.
A former Topshop boss, Jane Shepherdson, described Sir Philip as a “bully” during an even hosted by The Telegraph on Wednesday (October 31).
When she was asked about celebrities’ silence on the allegations against him, she said: “He’s a billionaire. Money talks.”
A number of MPs, including Labour’s Jess Phillips, have called for Green’s knighthood to be revoked.
Liberal Democrats leader Vince Cable called for Green to be stripped of his knighthood “if these allegations are correct.”
