Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour admitted that her fashion magazine has been “hurtful and intolerant” and not supportive enough of black designers and staff in a June 4 note to employees. Wintour said that recognition and correction of the problem within the magazine was “overdue” and that moving forward she will be listening to black employees and working to improve the culture. “I want to say plainly that I know Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators,” Wintour wrote. “I take full responsibility for those mistakes.”

Andre Leon Talley, Wintour’s longtime friend and former Vogue editor at large and the publication’s highest ranking black staffer, scorched Wintour in his recent memoir, The Chiffon Trenches, calling her “ruthless” and incapable of human kindness. Talley said he felt “thrown to the curb” by Wintour, accusing her of tossing him aside for being “too old” and “too fat.”