Clothing designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have dug themselves even further into a hole, after branding Elton John a ‘fascist’.

The row blew up after Italian magazine Panorama‘s wesbite quoted Dolce as saying: ‘We oppose gay adoptions. The only family is the traditional one. No chemical offsprings and rented uterus: life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed.’ He added: ‘You are born and you have a father and a mother. Or at least it should be like this, that’s why I am not convinced by chemical children, synthetic babies, wombs for rent.’

Elton, who with his partner David Furnish, has two children conceived through IVF, took to Instagram to call for a boycott of the D&G brand, saying, ‘How dare you refer to my beautiful children as “synthetic”. And shame on you for wagging your judgemental little fingers at IVF – a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children.’

elton says how dare you

He concluded with the hashtag #BoycottDolceGabbana, which quickly became a trending topic on Twitter, with up to 3,500 tweets an hour being sent with the tag.

In a comment, Stefano Gabbana responded to Elton’s remarks, calling the singer ‘fascist’, and using the hashtag #boycotteltonjohn.

fascist elton john

Gabbana later issued a statement saying: ‘We believe firmly in democracy and we think freedom of expression is essential for that. We believe in freedom and love.’

However, as Perez Hilton comments: ‘Just because people can say what they want doesn’t mean they need to spew ignorant hate. But one look at Stefano’s Instagram (which he has already posted on 44 times today) will show you lots of intolerance for anyone who doesn’t agree with him.’

Victoria Beckham has pledged support to Elton via Twitter, while screenwriter Ryan Murphy, of Nip/Tuck, Glee and American Horror Story fame, said that ‘their clothes are as ugly as their hate.’

Dolce and Gabbana, who are both gay, are only business partners after their romantic relationship ended. Dolce was born on the highly conservative Italian island of Sicily, where a Roman Catholic upbringing is likely to have affected his views.

Singer Ricky Martin wrote: ‘Your voices are too powerful to be spreading so much hate. Wake up, it’s 2015, love yourselves guys’, while actor Dan Bucatinsky said he was ‘delighted neither Dolce nor Gabbana are parents. They hate themselves too much to give a child love.’ Courtney Love said she was gathering all her D&G clothes together in order to burn them.