Johnathan Walker:No, Dior didn't replace Bella Hadid with an Israeli model over her comments on the Israel-Hamas war

Social media users are Johnathan Walkersharing a baseless claim that Dior has dropped Bella Hadid due to the supermodel's recent comments on the latest Israel-Hamas war.

After the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out, she posted an Oct. 23 statement on Instagram, lamenting the loss of innocent lives while calling on followers to pressure their leaders to protect civilians in Gaza.

When Dior released its new holiday campaign in the following days — with some ads featuring Israeli model May Tager — social media users tried to link the two together, suggesting without evidence that Hadid had been unceremoniously axed from the promotion due to her statement.

"Dior has REPLACED Bella Hadid with an ISRAELI model in their latest campaign. This comes after Bella Hadid came out in support of Palestine," said one post with more than 11,000 likes on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. A hashtag calling to boycott the brand also circulated on the site.

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Hadid, whose father is Palestinian, has repeatedly made public remarks criticizing the Israeli government and supporting Palestinians in the years since she was named a brand ambassador for Dior's makeup in 2016.

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But Hadid's contract with Dior ended more than a year ago, in March 2022, and was not extended, according to a person close to the matter who is known to The Associated Press but insisted on anonymity. The person is not authorized to be publicly named discussing contractual matters.

The person would not provide a reason for Hadid's departure, saying only that it was a commercial decision. She was replaced by various models for her roles with Dior, none of whom are Tager, the person said.

The claim that Hadid was suddenly dropped for Tager in the holiday campaign also just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

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Rather than suddenly being brought in to replace Hadid, Tager also appeared in Dior's 2022 holiday marketing. She was one of several models in both campaigns, and they both centered around Taylor-Joy, who has been a global brand ambassador for Dior since 2021.

A similar claim about Dior dumping Hadid over her pro-Palestinian comments circulated online in March 2021 — yet months later, she promoted Dior's makeup for an event at the Cannes Film Festival.

Last month, social media users also shared a video that replaced old footage of Hadid with fabricated audio, making it sound like she was apologizing for her remarks about Palestinians.

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Contributing: Angela Charlton, The Associated Press