On Friday, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Moran Mazor, the Israeli entrant in next month's Eurovision Song Contest, wouldn't be permitted to perform in a John Galliano–created outfit. After Mazor mentioned in a recent interview that she was working with the designer, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (which broadcasts the competition and sponsors the country's participant) told Mazor's agent that her choice of attire was unacceptable because of Galliano's past actions. But the Anti-Defamation League came to his defense; the group's national director Abraham H. Foxman said, "The [IBA] must realize that this is a changed man — he has consistently shown us that he is taking steps to understand and grow from his mistakes and at this point, to continue to boycott him is not constructive."
However, according to Galliano's publicist Liz Rosenberg, he had never agreed to dress Mazor, nor had there "been any 'official correspondence' between the singer's stylist [Gili Algabi] and Galliano," the AP reports. For his part, Algabi said he'd only communicated with the designer's assistants — he refused to name names — but not Galliano directly, and that he and the anonymous staffers are still in talks: "We will be honored to take the stage with a Galliano piece of clothing ... We don't have a reason to lie about this."
Both Mazor and Galliano declined to speak with the AP, but Rosenberg said the designer "appeciated" the ADL's kind words.
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