Skepta calls out 'sickening' encounter as North West swarmed by grown men at event

Skepta has hit out at ‘the way grown men’ act after viewers remain divided over an interaction between North West and a fan.

Two weeks after her 13th birthday, the daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attended the Vetements Menswear Spring/Summer 2027 show at Paris Fashion Week on 26 June, seemingly without either of her parents present.

Footage showed the youngster surrounded by people filming and taking pictures of her. One clip showed a man who appeared to be her bodyguard herding onlookers away from her, with the teen looking uncomfortable.

But one fan's interaction in particular has come in for some intense criticism.

In a second clip from the fashion show, the teenager puts her hand out for a handshake and the fan goes in for a hug before posing for a photo.

Taking to X, the ‘That’s Not Me’ rapper wrote: “My fans know I try to stay out of people's business but damn the way grown men, complete strangers, try to use North makes me sick.”

He continued: “A blind man could see she wanted a handshake kmt.”

Responding to a tweet asking if hugging is now a ‘social offense’, Skepta replied: “What are you talking about?! She is 13 years old and she put her hand out for a handshake, you don’t ignore that. I can’t believe some [of] these replies to my tweet.”

“Protect your kids people. Protect your kids,” he added.

“Sickening. Schools teaching French, German & English when really the language most people need to f**king learn is ‘Body Language’.”

Many users were in agreement with Skepta, as one person wrote: “The fact that 13-year-old North West was going in for a handshake and the adult in the room preferred to avoid the handshake and go in for a hug is terribly and terrifyingly wrong.”

A second penned: “Not only did she want just a handshake, she didn’t look comfortable taking the picture. Then he wanted to do some type of finger in the mouth thing with the picture that she wasn’t feeling either. Read the Room people!”

“Exactly. A handshake is a clear professional and personal boundary, especially for a kid. Forcing a hug completely disregards her autonomy and comfort level. It’s incredibly uncomfortable to watch,” a third commented.

Others, however, couldn't see a problem with it, as one person tweeted: “He went for the safe, friendly hug and y’all turned it into something dark. Why?”

Another replied: “Literally was the most innocent half hug ever. Yes I agree. She needs to be kept safe from those that want to use her and exploit her.....HER PARENTS...not this dude.”

Someone else said: “This is a very common social interaction. One person initiates a handshake, but the other person has already committed to a hug. It's awkward, brief, and completely innocent.”

Kim previously defended her parenting approach after North was pictured with over a dozen piercings earlier this year.

The reality star said on Khloè's podcast, Khloé in Wonderland, that the piercings were fake and acknowledged that the 'misconception that people might have is like, 'oh, she's trying to be her bestie' and lets her get away with a lot'.

"Like, no. Northy actually has a lot of rules," she insisted. "The one area is I do let her express herself, and I do let her do that.

"I love her for that, and she would do it, you know, regardless. It's funny like people are like, oh, this blue hair all of a sudden or like her fake piercings that she puts up.

"I have pictures of her when we're in first grade, pre-k, where she'd come with, like a fake septum ring, and she has her green braids, and she has pink braids.

"But she's always loved the colored braids in her hair since she was little."

According to Byrdie, a single-point piercing, or dermal piercing, is a type of piercing without a separate entry and exit point.

LADbible Group has contacted Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's representatives for comment.