Gay fashion designer assaulted and called ‘f****t’ in front of children at Make-a-Wish fundraiser
Fashion designer Pol’ Atteu was attacked backstage at the children’s charity fashion show. (CBSLA)
A gay fashion designer was beaten and called a “f****t” in front of children at a charity fashion show raising money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Designer Pol’ Atteu and his husband Patrik Simpson are the stars of Amazon Prime’s reality show Gown and Out in Beverley Hills.
The children’s fashion show was held at St. John’s Cathedral in Los Angeles, and Atteu said a man came backstage in the middle of the show and began attacking him.
He suspects the man was angry because his nine-year-old daughter, who was there during the attack, was not cast in the fashion show.
He said in a statement for The Advocate: “This man, the father of a child we did not select for the fashion show went crazy and jumped me from behind.
“He punched me in the face, head and stomach with both his fists and kicked me repeatedly. I was holding [my dog] Snow White and protecting her from him.
“I thought he was going to kill me. I was terrified and screamed over and over again for him to stop and he just kept beating me until I fell to the floor.”
A man was seen on security footage running away from the fashion show, but no arrests have been made. (CBSLA)
Atteu told local news station CBSLA that he spent two nights in hospital after the attack, with concussion, bruising and a re-injured broken shoulder.
He said tearfully: “I mean, how do you hate somebody you don’t even know this much?
“For somebody to just keep beating you up, and keep punching you, punching you and calling you a f***ing f****t, that’s something that stays with you for such a long time.”
He added: “His child didn’t get picked for the fashion show, I understand that. But then, when you’re yelling slurs about someone’s sexuality, that takes it a step further.”
Video footage released by the cathedral shows a man running away from the scene, but so far no arrests have been made.
