Is a Gun-Shaped Bag Ever a Fashion Moment?

Photo: Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images

We’ve seen some questionable red-carpet moments, but a gun-shaped bag may be the worst. To the BET Awards on Sunday night, Angela Simmons, the 36-year-old daughter of Run-D.M.C.’s Rev. Run, carried a green bedazzled purse shaped like … a gun. Sure, the bag matched her custom emerald-green embellished dress by Caszé Atelier, but we will never forgive the brand for the Instagram caption “If looks could kill.”

A gun purse doesn’t ever seem appropriate, especially at the BET Awards, a show dedicated to the Black community and celebrating the culture, a community that is predominantly affected by gun violence in devastating numbers. Simmons’s former fiancé and the father of her child, Sutton Tennyson, was fatally shot 13 times in an Atlanta garage in 2018. Even if the look was a “fashion moment,” it doesn’t feel carpet appropriate; it feels insensitive, especially for Simmons, whose 7-year-old son, Sutton Tennyson Jr., lost his father and has to see his mom swinging a gun on the red carpet all in the name of “fashion.”

Once Simmons hit the carpet, social media quickly started creating memes and talking about the bag. Not only did she wear it on the carpet but she pointed it at the camera as a prop like it was a funny moment. After seeing the backlash, Simmons posted a video to social media apologizing for “ruffling feathers.”

Photo: Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

“I see a lot of conversation around the purse I wore to the awards … I’m not violent, I’ve obviously been through a lot in my life when it comes to gun violence and it’s very personal to me, but I just liked the bag and I thought it was cool and I thought it was a fashion moment … I didn’t have any intentions of ruffling anyone’s feathers,” she said.

A few hours later, Simmons posted a statement to her Instagram saying that wearing the bag was a “poor decision.”

She continued on to mention her work in the community to combat gun violence: “I have personally lost my partner, the father of my child to gun violence, and I have witnessed its devastating impact on my community in Southeast Queens. My work with Erica Ford, a leading gun violence activist, and my own organization that creates programs to reduce gun violence and helps those directly impacted by the epidemic, have always been about making peace a lifestyle.”

Maybe opt for a normal clutch next time, especially on a red carpet.