Because, ya know, he's a little rich.
In 2020, news broke that fashion mogul and former Vogue creative director Andre Leon Talley was in a legal battle over his home of 16 years in New York, countersuing the homeowners who claim that he owes them over 500,000 dollars.
The two homeowners, George Malkemus, former head of Manolo Blahnik USA and his husband Anthony Yurgaitis, bought the house originally and allowed Talley to live there, paying rent every month. The lease expired in 2014 but was never renewed while Talley was still paying rent that fluctuated as was appropriate for his income.
Talley calls the money he’s been paying monthly since 2014 was what he believed to be equity investment for his ownership of the house. Talley argues that they actually owe him the 500,000 dollars.
Malkemus and Yurgitas bought the home for a little over 1 million dollars in 2004, which Daley immediately started living in. The two believed he was just going to pay rent, but Talley believed that once he paid the full price that they bought it for, the title would be transferred to him and he would own it.
On March 1st, a fan of Talley and fellow fashion-minded man, Akeem Smith took to GoFundMe to try and raise money for the former Vogue creative director to help him find a new home in during the pandemic. His goal was to raise the 500,000 that was being demanded of Talley.
His explanation was for the need to raise this money was that he needed to "support him to acknowledge his lifetime's work and the room his fearlessness made for so many voices and points of view that have followed him."
On March 3rd, the GoFundMe had reached $9,335 of its goal, and Talley posted on his socials acknowledging the GoFundMe, though deeming it "completely unnecessary".
He recalls that the public knows about all the "peaks and valleys" in his life, and through out it all he's remained resilient. He also reassured that he has a "very capable legal team at this time", and that the gesture was "thoughtful".
There isn't word on what will be done with the $9,335 that was raised, but the full message from Akeem Smith can be found here.