Theophilus London Addresses Ian Connor Beef, Claims "Kanye Fired Him"

Theophilus London contacted Complex to detail his fight with Ian Connor in Paris, their relationship, and the rape allegations against his former friend.

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Complex Original

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On Monday, in response to stylist/model Ian Connor’s fight with rappers A$AP Bari and Theophilus London in Paris and the flurry of bitter social media accusations that followed, Complex published a timeline of the L.A.-based 23-year-old’s rise and fall in the fashion and music industries. The timeline was based on major milestones in Connor’s career that have been documented online and in the fashion press, from his start on Tumblr to the recent allegations of rape made by six women to last week’s fight, andhis apparent falling out with London and Bari. Connor’s association with celebrities like Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, and A$AP Rocky meant that other bold-faced names were also mentioned within the recap; London, 29—who initially supported Connor with a tweet that said “Ian Connor Innocent,” then later accused him of sexual assault—featured prominently.

London contacted Complex via Twitter on Tuesday to dispute the timeline we published and talk about his relationship with Connor. Over the course of three phone calls, he addressed the rape allegations against his former friend, their fight at the Parisian boutique Colette last week, and the accusations of drug use and sexual abuse that Connor leveled against him. As of press time, Connor has not responded to repeated requests for comment. (To read a firsthand account from Malika Anderson, the initial woman to publicly accuse Connor of rape, click here).

Let’s start from the beginning. After reading our timeline, you feel we omitted your role in Ian’s early success, correct?
I started Ian. So before he “starts modelling,” that’s my son. I found him on the streets rolling with some Brooklyn kids.

You put Ian on?
Putting on doesn’t mean anything to me. I nourished that kid. I took care of him. I don’t put kids on. I help them to try to give them the vision for them to see something. I put him on as far as his modeling career goes. Yeah, I started that for him by putting random T-shirts [on him]; I put clothes on his back. All the clothes that he was wearing for about a year or two were my clothes. And I started taking photos of him and putting them up, and I started getting a lot of attraction.

After the fight last week, you tweeted that Ian was a rapist, but in April, when the allegations against him first arose, you posted a photo with with the caption, “Ian Connor Innocent.” What was the context behind that?
I had just come back from overseas, and I just started seeing all the stuff that was going on. And I knew the kid. I knew every night that’s how he wants to end his night: by having sex. I thought everything was consensual. And I hadn’t spoken to him. I hadn’t known he was talking shit behind my back for two years, that he was jealous of me. And I guess he social climbed his way to Kanye West, so he didn’t need me anymore. I guess that’s how he felt. I introduced him [to West] in 2014, and he started sucking his dick so hard. But I put up that photo of “Ian Innocent” on social with Kanye. I was just trying to support a friend. I had no idea about anything. I didn’t call him a rapist just because we was fighting.

About three months ago an epiphany hit me, and a girl—I would never say her name—I befriended her after Ian Connor had brought her to my house with a bunch of his young little friends. She was really into him. Ian had went on social media, like he does. That’s the only place that he exists—social media. And, he started telling everybody, “Theo stole my girl!” I didn’t know why he was saying that. It just clicked to me three months ago why he was saying that: because he wanted to get rid of this girl from liking him, so he pushed her on me. I started fake-dating her for five weeks. I wasn’t really dating her; I was just on a mentorship program. She would come over every night, we would hang out, we would talk. I would share music. We would make out, blah blah blah. She was super timid. I could tell she was hurt by something. We never even had sex—and I’m a fucking legend. Not that I was trying to be that, but ya know. [Laughs.] If I’m making out with you, and we’re chilling watching movies, you know, that’s almost the next step. But I’m not a rapist. So, we never had sex. But I could tell something was bothering her. It all just clicked in my head: "Whoa, he did this girl dirty." My heart goes out to her. I wrote that [tweet accusing Connor of being a rapist] after the fact. “Yo, you’re a fucking dirty rapist. I’m gonna fuck you up every time I see you.” That’s after the punch. That’s like two minutes. That’s me downstairs in the basement with the owner of Colette. That’s where that text came from. That’s why I told you [about the timeline], “Take that shit down.” Because you don’t have no context about it. Put it back up with the context, so women won’t hate me for acting like I knew something and didn’t come out. He will see his day in court. God is in control.

So, your experience with that girlwho you’re not naming—has led you to believe that Ian is a rapist?
Look. I read all the stories. And I know Ian. I’m not making any personal statements. I’m not trying to go to court for y’all to report for your article. I’m no witness here. I’m just sharing a story that this is how it confirmed in my head that I know he is a rapist. And that’s why I went and said that. I would never say I wanted to fight him. I’d fuck him up regardless. But I’m not trying to be like, “Oh, now because I’m saying it, it’s true.” These girls have been saying this for fucking months. Whether some of them it’s true, some of them it’s not—you know, there might be two or three fake ones in there. But, he probably did have sex with them.

You said the fight at Colette was not about you calling him a rapist.
Nah, the fight at Colette was from jealousy. He’s just jealous that I took a two-year break, and I came back from a two-year break, and I turned New York upside down. All his friends are on my dick. All his friends look up to me. So it’s just jealousy. It’s just hate. Kanye fired him. That’s all he had left, and that’s why he only kept promoting, “Kanye, Kanye, Kanye! My 9 to 5!” Putting videos of him and Kanye. It’s not a good look to Ye, because every time you write about this rapist, they gonna mention Kanye.

This [fight] had nothing to do with him being a rapist. He sucker-punched me because he’s jealous of me. I tried to wave to him and he didn’t say nothing. Also prior to that, him and Bari had already had a fight before the Colette event even started. I don’t really know why he was there in the first place. He was just there with negative energy and a dirty heart. And he came and sucker-punched me, because his so-called fans was watching him get punked, because I put him in his place in front of all his little friends that he supposedly works with. He fucking needed to hit me, because his whole life is on the Internet. He wanted to make it like, “Oh, I punched Theo in the face,” and that’s the only context they’re gonna have. He was waiting for that video to come up. And after everything everyone did for you, this is how you do us? In a place where I done sold three different collections. Colette is our place of business. [I] shut down Colette all the time. So has Virgil [Abloh, Kanye West's creative director, who also witnessed the fight]. This was Bari’s first time doing [an event at Colette with his label VLONE]. So, this kid’s a loser. He wanted to take the moment from Bari. He wanted everybody to be like, “Oh, it’s an Ian Connor moment.” But I’m smart, so I made sure it backfired on him. He punched the wrong person. I mean, I have like 17 tweets ready to go that aren’t even put out yet about this kid. He emptied out all his ammo on me, clearly. He’s trying to be like Kanye. “I’m gonna disappear in Japan,” like he has an Amber Rose or some shit. He is done for life.

Do you want to address the accusation he made on Twitter that you use heroin?
[Laughs] No comment.

A short time later, London called Complex back to address another allegation made by Connor last week. In the same tweet in which he said London used heroin, Connor also accused him of being a child molester.

Theophilus London: I have to let people know that I deny all of the allegations against me. I don’t play when it comes to misusing the term “child molester.” This guy’s a liar, and he’s dirty. He’s just upset that all his business got exposed, and he’s trying to dig deep in I don’t know what memory of his. He says he has proof of me molesting a child with no comeback of it. This term is being used loosely. He’s a young, dumb, confused kid. I just deny that. That’s it. I just wanted to let you guys know that.

 

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

 

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