West denied that he was dissing Leibovitz for pulling out of his wedding day while she confirmed that they actually did not strike a deal.
- Jun 20, 2014
AceShowbiz - Both Kanye West and Annie Leibovitz attempted to clear the air regarding his recent comment about her quitting as his wedding photographer at last minutes. In a joint statement, West and Leibovitz confirmed that they did not strike a deal that was in time for the May 24 wedding.
West seemingly blamed Leibovitz for calling it quits when he talked about the Instagram picture of his and wife Kim Kardashian's wedding kiss. "Let me tell you something about that kiss photo that my girl put up," he said at 2014 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. "This was pissing my girl off during the honeymoon, she was exhausted because we worked on the photo so much because Annie Leibovitz pulled out right before the wedding. I think that she was, like, scared of the idea of celebrity."
The joint statement to explain things up read, "Kanye West's comments about Annie Leibovitz while speaking at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival have been taken out of context and sensationalized. Although Kanye expressed frustration that he was not able to collaborate with Annie Leibovitz at his recent wedding, he is not assigning blame, and is not accusing Annie in any way. Kanye and Annie's representatives were in negotiations for weeks that were not completed by the time of the wedding."
It included a statement from the photographer's rep who said, "Annie would have been happy to do the portrait but she was never confirmed." The joint statement continued, "It was Kanye's dream to bring together for the wedding his favorite creatives - Riccardo Tisci on the dress, Vanessa Beecroft on the experience, and Andrea Bocelli - Kim's favorite singer - singing Kim's favorite song as she walked down the aisle."
"The first choice to capture one of the most special days in Kim and Kanye's life: Annie Leibovitz. Annie Leibovitz - the legendary photographer responsible for Kim and Kanye's recent Vogue cover - is not known to shoot weddings. But Kanye West dreams big. He loves and respects Annie as a true artist and wanted to bring her eye for beauty to the imagery of the event."
Conor McDonnell, a 22-year-old photographer, replaced Leibovitz at the wedding. The photo of the newlyweds kissing in front of a wall full of flowers became the most-liked photo on Instagram with more than 1.93 million likes, and more than 35,000 comments.
