[There was a video here]

Now that video of Dior creative director John Galliano announcing "I love Hitler" is all over the internet, let's revisit how quick the fashion press was to defend him from claims of anti-Semitism.

Fashion journalism is among the few industries where the press actively promotes and contributes to the object of its scrutiny, so the sycophantic element is no surprise—but still pretty ridiculous. For instance, Elle UK's initial report highlighted how cool Galliano's meltdown was:

There are conflicting stories emerging about the incident so far but it seems that Galliano was drinking in a cool bar in Paris, 'La Perle', trying to shake off some of his pre-fashion week stress, and had a disagreement with a couple sitting at the next table.

Just a case of stylishly frazzled nerves. When you're a world-famous Parisian couturier, fantasizing about exterminating Jews is like squeezing a stressball.

Meanwhile, fashionistas lined up to tell the Daily Telegraph that Galliano isn't racist, and even if he is, the dresses he designs might be pretty enough to be worth it:

Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani [told] us yesterday "Christian Dior without John Galliano would be a huge pity." Fashionwiredaily.com's Godfrey Deeny who has drunk at the same bar on several occasions, said "My experience is, he's a very tolerant, easy guy. I haven't heard any evidence to the contrary. If someone's made an anti-Semitic remark, that's completely wrong, but that's an 'if' I don't know the answer to."

British Vogue stuck to eyewitness accounts:

...but all may not be as it seems. We spoke to someone this morning who was in the cafe at the time of the altercation - and her story suggests Galliano may not have been at fault.

"We had a table at La Perle and John Galliano sat next to us," our eyewitness told us. "He spoke to a couple at a nearby table to say 'Cheers' and they insulted him. An argument started and the police came, so Galliano's bodyguard suggested that they should go to the police station to sort it out. He wasn't 'busted' aggressively by police, it was very quiet and peaceful. I definitely didn't hear him say anything anti-Semitic, or against any religion, it was all very calm."

I'll admit, Galliano stayed remarkably calm as he explained how the world would be better without Jews.

German fashion magazine Sleek also conjured eye witnesses, chastising those who called Galliano an anti-Semite:

The press went wild spreading blown up reports of John Galliano having been arrested last night and accused of assaulting a couple, voicing anti-Semitic statements. However, as our witnesses who were at La Perle around 10 PM when this so-called drama happened tell us, the story is far less dramatic<.

After explaining that Galliano's real problem was his seatmate's ugly purse and her boyfriend seeming "'Asian,' which is indeed a racist statement," Sleek summarized breezily,

All in all, another dodgy fashionable night in the heart of Paris! What do we learn from this? Bad style can get you into legal trouble, and no matter how drunk, a designer can never see past an ugly bag!

Oh, come on, fashionistas. At least lecture him for choosing such an outmoded form of racism. Nazism is so seven decades ago! We must hold our trendmakers to higher genocidal standards. [Video via the Sun]

Update: To be clear, the above video is not the same Nazi rant that Parisian police were summoned to deal with. It would appear that John Galliano has been on more than one Nazi rant.