As the decision to remove transgender model Amanda Lepore from Travis Scott’s Astroworld album art continues to garner criticism, an explanation for the removal has been fered.
The explanation came David LaChapelle, the famed photographer who shot the colorful cover.
LaChapelle explained what happened in the comments his Instagram post the album art. In his comment, he revealed that Lepore, who can be seen at the left the original photo, simply “upstaged everyone.”
He added that the edit had “nothing to do with hating.”
Reps for Scott later revealed to TMZ that the Houston rapper wasn’t aware Lepore’s removal. He reportedly wasn’t even aware the original photo.
Lepore had questioned why she’d been removed from the image, but sent her love to LaChapelle and Scott, writing “A girl can’t help it!Too distracting for the eyes !Upstaged everyone in the photograph.”
Controversy aside, Travis Scott’s Astroworld album was released on Friday (August 3).