Rick Owens Opens Up About That Model He Punched

Rick Owens's show is always one of the most talked-about at Paris Fashion Week, sometimes for good reasons, others for rather disturbing ones. Back in June, Owens went totally berzek on one of his models after he saw him walking down the runway holding a banner that read "Please kill Angela Merkel...Not."

At least he has a sense of humor.

Backstage, an enraged Owens lost it and hit the model: "It's a crazy, rogue, fucking model that I punched when he came back out," he told WWD at the time. "Please say that I punched him."

The stunt was performed by one his favorite models, Jera, who had his 15 minutes of fame last January when Owens sent him down the runway sans pants.

In a new interview with Surface magazine, Owens explains what made him snap:

"I was pissed at that moment. I thought, 'Hey, this is my spotlight, and you fucked it up,'" Owens explains. "The whole reason I hit the guy was I knew if I didn't react very strongly it might get out that this was some stunt that I had planned. Everybody had to know how strongly I disagreed with this."

The designer does not hold back on Jera's behavioral issues either:

"He's always been a heavy drinker, and a little erratic, which was adorable. But what he did was just so illogical. He was very accepted here and embraced by a community of people who were very affectionate toward him -- a group that now feels more hostility toward him than I do because they feel protective of me. It was really a self-destructive gesture."

Owens goes on, adding that his main issue with the outburst was that it was rooted in negativity: "Whenever I do provocation, I'm always doing something that I feel is based on warmth and kindness and love," he adds.

Jera's contract with his agency was terminated shortly after the fight.

(H/T: Dazed Digital)