On Tuesday, Travis Scott shared two versions of the cover art for his upcoming album Astroworld. Both covers were shot by David LaChapelle and show a theme park entrance: a familial one in the day and a debaucherous one at night. In a version of the second cover, posted by David LaChapelle, model and trans icon Amanda Lepore appears on the right side, staring into the camera over her shoulder. Below is Travis Scott's post of the cover, with no evidence of Lepore in the photo.
It's the only visible change to the photo and, naturally Lepore and a lot off people in Scott and LaChapelle's comments are asking for an explanation. In her post of the photo, Lepore wrote, "It was great being part of @david_lachapelle s incredible photograph of @travisscott s albulm cover but I’m curious why I’m not on the picture @travisscott posted 💋❤️💄."
On Wednesday, LaChapelle responded to Lepore's questioning of why she wasn't in Travis's version, with him writing back, "because you were a bad bad girl lol it's not for any other reason ....."
Lots of comments are saying that the explanation for the change must have been rooted in transphobia, and LaChapelle directly responded to one of those claims, commenting, "Everybody [sic] wants to explain everything with some phobia or whatever. This is a case of something else she can't seem to control lol. Ain't nothing to do with hating."
When asked for comment about the situation, a rep for Amanda Lepore referred The FADER to her original instagram caption.
Representatives for Travis Scott and David LaChapelle were not immediately available for comment.