Coco Austin Defends Herself Against Cornrows Backlash

Coco Austin knows how to defend herself!On Saturday, the mother of one received backlash for [...]

By Sarah Halper

Coco Austin knows how to defend herself!

On Saturday, the mother of one received backlash for getting cornrows and calling the hairstyle "Da Coco Swoop."

Shortly after reading the comments about cultural appropriation for her decision to rename the braids, she took to Instagram to defend her point of view.

In a series of two videos, Austin says, "So, recently I got social media's panties in a bunch because I did braids to my hair. This is so stupid. I can't believe I'm talking about it, and I believe this shouldn't be turned out to be a 'race thing.'"

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While her long braids are flung to one side in the video, the 38-year-old explains that she always gives her hairstyles new names. "I did my braids and I called them the Coco Swoop. I name all my styles that I do to myself. These are called the Coco Swoop. The braids before were called the Bo Derek Braids. And it's a Coco-ism. I've always done it."

Then she argued, "Why can't we all rename hairstyles or braids? That sounds so stupid. Why is everybody claiming something they shouldn't? I know braids have been around for thousands of years. Don't you think I know that?"

Austin continued, "If I wanna wear a pineapple on my head, then I should be able to wear a pineapple on my head and call it the Pineapple Cocowop. I don't know. You see where I'm going with this? Why is everybody hating?"

In the second video, Austin points out the fact that Beyonce wore a similar hairstyle and now it's called "the Lemonade," but says no one gets mad at her.

"This should be a 'human thing,' right? Everybody should be able to do it. It's a 'human thing' – give that a shot – not a race war," she said.

"It has nothing to do with race. But this just goes to show you that no one reads the captions underneath pictures. Otherwise, you would understand that this is not an issue. It's something that I do. It's a Coco-ism, okay?" she stated again.

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She ended her defense by thanking those who support her. Even though she receives "much love," sometimes she just has to address the hate.

The post that initially started the backlash featured a photo of herself showing off her braids, which she called "Da Coco Swoop."

After posting a few more snaps with her braids and still receiving backlash, her husband Ice-T, took to Twitter to defend her as well. He retweeted a message, writing, "Wrong for what? Braiding her hair?? You sound Dumb."

Photo Credit: Instagram / @coco

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