How the luxury handbag mogul used the Kanye West controversy as fuel to fight anti-Semitism

The luxury handbag mogul whose clients include celebrities such as Kris Jenner, Paris Hilton and Lil Baby was inspired to fight anti-Semitism after he sold a one-of-a-kind Birkin bag to Kanye West for $275,000 just months before. as a rapper and record producer, he broke into a public anti-Semitic tirade.

Geoffrey Burke, CEO of Privé Porter’s luxury handbag resale market, used the money from the sale to fund his new organization, Truth Tells. This group aims to hold politicians accountable when they make anti-Semitic remarks or oppose Israel.

“There are some politicians promoting a socialist ideology that is a clear threat to our freedom and the very American Dream,” Burke says. “And those who hate American greatness invariably hate the Jews.

“However, even Jewish congressmen do not stand up to their hate-filled colleagues. They are actually – secretly – elevating these anti-Semites to leadership positions. This made me so angry that I decided to invest my money in something that causes my outrage.

Geoffrey Burke, founder and CEO of Truth Tells and co-founder of Privé Porter. (Geoffrey Burke)

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Burke, a Jewish-American living in Palm Beach County, has built Privé Porter with his wife Michelle over the past decade, and in 2020 they opened their first brick store in Miami.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Burke described Chris Jenner, the well-known “mommy” of the Kardashian and Jenner brands, as someone who has raised his company’s reputation on an incredible scale.

“In the summer of 2015, we had a pop-up store in Aspen. And just by sheer luck, Kris Jenner went into the store a few times and we hit it off. She bought two bags, concocted a whole bunch of social media. stories. She published us the next day. And we went from a good $500,000 a month business to a $1.5 million business.” Burke said.

Burke says that as the business has achieved international success, the idea for Truth Tells was born when he began to take a passive and silent role in some political affairs and even considered applying for Congress in early 2022.

Kanye West attends the Givenchy womenswear show as part of Paris Fashion Week in October 2022 amid anti-Semitism controversy. (Stefan Cardinale/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

During the process, he said, he “discovered a lot of hypocrisy and laziness on the part of our Jewish leaders that they are not trying to prevent the rise of more socialist, anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli congressmen,” he said, pointing to the Congressional Progressive Group (CCP).

“The fulcrum of our story, for example, how can there be a progressive assembly of 100 congressmen, and how is Rashida Tlaib elected to the post of vice chair? like a whip?

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“What [Florida Democrat Lois] Frankel thinks? What [Tennessee Democrat Steve] Cohen thinks?

But that was until Kanye West, who is now known as “Ye” and is a former Privé Porter client, spewed out on Twitter last fall such things as “Death Scam 3 on the JEWISH PEOPLE” and dozens of other anti-Semitic comments that Burke realized that Truth Tells needed to speed up its work.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Michigan, listens as Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan testifies before the House Oversight and Reform Committee July 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Vin McNamee/Getty Images)

“At first it was a shock. Then you sort of held your breath that this was some kind of joke or some weird PR stunt,” Burke said of his reaction to the comments. “When instead you double down over and over again, you realize that there are still people on this Earth of great intelligence and ability who truly share not only the hatred of the Jews, but are in favor of getting rid of them.

“We realized that this problem is infinitely more serious, and it was urgent to report it and demand the conviction of our political leaders in order to overcome it.”

Berk took the money from the sale of Ye and added to what was already invested in Truth Tells to create both a non-profit and a political arm., which was launched in June 2022 to evaluate Jewish politicians based on their voting results and their support for or condemnation of anti-Semitic colleagues in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Members will receive a letter score and their constituents will be informed through television ads and social media campaigns.

Truth Tells’ advertising budget for the second quarter of this year is over $1,000,000.

Democrats Cohen, Jerrold Nadler of New York, and Jamie Raskin of Maryland received provisional grades of “F” because they allowed Ihan Omar, of Minnesota, to become deputy commander of the Congressional Progressive Group, and Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan. . to retain his position as vice chairman.

Representatives Adam Schiff, D.C., Ilhan Omar, D.M., and Eric Swalwell, D.C., hold a news conference regarding their removal from the committee on January 25, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Burke also mentioned Rep. Adam Schiff’s CNN interview with Dana Bash earlier this year amid calls from Republicans to remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee for her anti-Semitic comments. The California Democrat did not condemn the comments in the interview.

“He sidestepped that issue, and to my knowledge, her disqualification for being on this committee is the law she voted for and tried to pass,” Burke said. Truth Tells prepared a 60-second advertisement for Schiff for the interview, noting that he received an “F” rating from the organization for “silence in the fight against anti-Semitism.”

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While Burke says he’s committed to keeping Truth Tells impartial, he said it’s been difficult lately, noting that every Democratic Jew in Congress has voted against removing Omar from her committee seat.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff was erroneously named a CNN Chiron by Republican recently. (CNN)

“If you are a Jewish congressman, you will not receive a badge stating that you have just voted to fund the Iron Dome. And what if you go there and shake hands?” He said. “What are you doing to stop the root of anti-Semitism here?

“I strongly believe that the normalization of this, breadcrumbs goes back to 2018 when these Squad members were introduced. And in a short time they all became little rock stars and they have tens of millions of followers. And those tens of millions of followers… most of them didn’t do their homework about Israel and Palestine before they were forced into a vantage point.

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“And I don’t think this wildfire when New York students are beaten on campus, mezuzahs are torn off the doors at the University of Denver, and Zionism is banned at Berkeley… it’s like it’s all mixed up in me,” Burke said.

“And if this is wildfire, then Jewish politicians like Cohen, Frankel, Nadler and Ruskin keep giving these people oxygen to keep it going.”