Philipp Plein says he’ll donate to Black Lives Matter if Ferrari drops lawsuit

Over-the-top fashion designer Philipp Plein — who’s been in a legal battle with Ferrari — is proposing the luxury auto brand drops its dispute against him and he’ll instead donate a settlement to Black Lives Matter.

Page Six reported last year that Ferrari fired off a legal letter to Plein — known for his garish fashion shows stocked with stars, performers and wild sets — after he posted an image on Instagram of a pair of his $800 sneakers on the hood of his own gaudy green $350,000 812 Superfast. Ferrari’s team huffed it didn’t want to be associated with Plein’s line and its “per se distasteful” imagery.

In response, Plein even staged a protest that involved pricey sports cars driving from Cipriani Downtown to Times Square.

In a statement this week, Plein alleged that Ferrari had been pursuing $2 million from him, but that he’d negotiated the request down to $200,000. Now he wants them to drop it and he’ll give the money away. “In this particular moment full of tragic events all over the world I feel completely inappropriate to fight over such irrelevant matters,” he wrote. “Neither [Ferrari] nor me REALLY need those [sic] money. Instead of continuing this useless litigation I asked my lawyer to settle the fight in order to make a contribution of [$200,000]” to a fund for George Floyd’s daughter, Gianna, or Black Lives Matter.

Plein’s lawyer sent Ferrari a letter asking the car brand to drop its dispute for the donation to be made. Plein later added in a statement that he’ll make the donation even if Ferrari doesn’t agree.

Plein added, “I truly hope that [Ferrari] will agree … I am suggesting this solution to support the black community and not to promote myself or my brand.”

Plein claimed in his statement that he was the first designer to feature all black models at Milan Fashion Week in 2013. (At Milan 2020, he was slammed for a Kobe Bryant tribute that some deemed distasteful because it included Lakers jerseys with Bryant’s No. 24 and Plein’s name — as worn by models including Olivia Culpo — plus a set that included a bedazzled helicopter after Bryant died in a crash.

Ferrari did not immediately get back to us.

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