British Vogue has banned two of the biggest photographers in fashion from working for them after models in the US accused the snappers of sexual assault.
The company said it had stopped employing star photographers Mario Testino, known for photographing the Royal Family, and Bruce Weber ‘for the foreseeable future’ amid the scandal.
Lawyers for Testino tried to discredit their accounts while Weber denied the claims to The New York Times, whose investigative report detailed a string of allegations.
Famed photographers Mario Testino and Bruce Weber have been accused of sexual misconduct by male models. In the case of Testino (pictured) – who has often photographed for Vogue and the British royal family – 13 male assistants and models said he ‘subjected them to sexual advances that in some cases included groping and performing a sexual act on himself’
Fifteen current and former male models accused Weber (pictured) of often ‘unnecessary nudity and coercive sexual behavior, often during photo shoots
Anna Wintour, artistic director of Conde Nast, which publishes magazines including Vogue and GQ, said the publisher would not work with the pair following Saturday’s report.
Testino, who took the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official engagement photos and was given an honorary OBE in 2014, was accused by 13 male assistants and models of subjecting them to sexual advances.
Some said the Peruvian photographer’s behaviour, going back to the mid-1990s, included groping and masturbation, the paper reported.
Testino also captured Prince William and Kate Middleton’s famous ‘informal’ engagement photo (pictured)
Ryan Locke, a model who worked with Testino on Gucci campaigns, accused him of being aggressive and flirtatious throughout shoots, adding: ‘He was a sexual predator.’
Photographic assistant Hugo Tillman said Testino once grabbed him on the street and tried to kiss him.
He revealed that a few weeks later, the famed photographer pinned him down on a bed until he was removed by another person.
Former model Ryan Locke (left) says Testino climbed on top of him during a shoot and said: ‘I’m the girl, you’re the boy’. Terron Wood (right) said Weber forced him to expose his genitals
Robyn Sinclair (left) said that Weber would perform ‘breathing exercises’ with him and even grabbed his privates. Jason Fedele (right) said that Testino would often encourage nudity during photo shoots and would often ‘reach’ for towels
Model Monty Hooper (left) said Weber told him he had ‘to learn to be more vulnerable’ and led him through a breathing exercise. Testino’s former assistant Hugo Tillman (right) said that the photographer grabbed him on the street one night and tried to kiss him and on another night pinned him onto a bed
Testino is one of the favorite photographers used by the Royal Family. He photographed Princess Diana in her famous 1997 Vanity Fair cover shoot
Another assistant, Roman Barrett, said Testino performed a sex act on himself in front of him, and added: ‘Sexual harassment was a constant reality.’
One anonymous assistant said Testino masturbated on him during a business trip, while another said the photographer groped his backside, the newspaper reported.
The paper reported that lawyers for Testino, 63, said the sources could not be considered reliable.
US photographer Weber, 71, was accused by 15 current and former models of subjecting them to unnecessary nudity and coercive sexual behaviour, according to The New York Times.
Model Josh Ardolf said that during a nude shoot his genitals were grabbed by Weber.
Model Bobby Roache said Weber tried to put his hands down Roache’s trousers during a casting in 2007.
In a statement to the paper from his lawyer, Weber said: ‘I’m completely shocked and saddened by the outrageous claims being made against me, which I absolutely deny.’
Serena Williams’s cover for this month’s vogue was shot by Testino. Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Condé Nast announced they will not commission either photographer ‘for the foreseeable future’
‘I remember him putting his fingers in my mouth, and him grabbing my privates. We never had sex or anything, but a lot of things happened. A lot of touching. A lot of molestation,’ Sinclair (pictured) said of Weber
Terron Wood (pictured) a model who shot several ad campaigns with Weber between 2007 and 2010, said: ‘The first thing I was told about Bruce was that he puts people in really precarious situations’
Wintour said that the allegations against her ‘personal friends’ have been ‘hard to hear and heartbreaking to confront’.
‘I believe strongly in the value of remorse and forgiveness, but I take the allegations very seriously, and we at Conde Nast have decided to put our working relationship with both photographers on hold for the foreseeable future,’ she said in a statement.
The publisher recently distanced itself from Terry Richardson in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, despite the denied claims about the photographer mistreating models having been aired years previously.
Testino attends the press view for ‘Diana, Princess Of Wales By Mario Testino’ at Kensington Palace in November 2005 in London, England. The exhibition featured photographic images by Testino from Diana’s last portrait sitting, five months before her death in Paris in 1997
Lavely & Singer, the law firm representing the pair, has not responded to a request for comment on the claims about Weber and said there would be no additional comment regarding Testino.
Representatives for both photographers are yet to respond to similar requests.