High Anxiety in London as Joe Corr and a Former Ally Lock Horns – WWD

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE: A war of words has erupted between Vivienne Westwoods son Joe Corr and Richard Hillgrove, his former p.r. man and activist organizer.

Most recently, the two worked together on a publicity stunt in July aimed at drawing attention to the plight of Julian Assange, who was charged in the U.S. in 2019 for publishing classified documents linked to U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As reported, Westwood, dressed in a sharp-shouldered canary yellow trouser suit and black combat boots, voiced her support for Assange from inside a giant birdcage suspended 10 feet off the ground in front of Londons Old Bailey criminal court.

It was Westwoods first public appearance after quarantining for 16 weeks during the U.K.s COVID-19 lockdown earlier this year. Megaphone in hand, she decried the illegal U.S. extradition of Julian Assange for telling the truth about American war crimes.

Since then Corr, an activist and clothing entrepreneur who has inherited his mothers flair for drama, has fallen out with his longtime ally Hillgrove, with whom he had worked since 2014, staging a number of protests.

The two have not worked together since September, after Hillgrove quit his job. Hillgrove said he gave Corr a months notice that he was leaving, which he said Corr rejected.

Since then, Corr has been sending Hillgrove e-mails so venomous they could turn a man to stone.

In one of them, seen by WWD, Corr tells Hillgrove to never get in touch with him, Vivienne Westwood, or Ben Westwood (Joes half-brother) again.

Your behavior has been disgusting, I have supported you so much in the past to the point where I would have taken a bullet for you. You havent even had the decency to explain or discuss your decision to cut your relationship with me after everything we have been through, wrote Corr in one of the e-mails.

Corr then went on to insult Hillgroves wife Lois Perry, a broadcaster, in words that cannot be reprinted here.

Hillgrove also accused Corr of using women hate speechandreligious hate speechagainst Perry.

Hillgrove confirmed that he has not gone to the police or taken legal action, although that might be a possibility in the future.

Asked to comment Corr said: Richard is an idiot, and his desire to let everyone know that he is one by sending out press releases on this non-story just proves that he is one. We worked very successfully together as a team, but when he is left to his own devices he is a car crash. Goodbye Richard!

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High Anxiety in London as Joe Corr and a Former Ally Lock Horns - WWD