It may only be just a few days into 2020, but Kylie Jenner is already being accused of cultural appropriation, deleting a photo of herself in platinum twists after being accused of using a style for which black women are often discriminated against to boost her own aesthetic. The picture, which is actually from an old photo shoot, was first shared by Jenner’s makeup artist from the shoot, who said the reference for the look was Gwen Stefani.
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Jenner quickly shared the photo to her own grid, but after accusations of cultural appropriation began to light up the comments, moved it to her Instagram Story instead. That didn’t stop the photo from making the rounds on Twitter, much to critical response.
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The cultural appropriation jumped out
โ leo | STREAM CIRCLES (@leolovestay) January 3, 2020
until its time to be a black woman
โ jack (@jackissafenty) January 3, 2020
She finna claim this hair style like they do with everything thats not theirs ๐
โ Johnnyโs coffeeโ๏ธ (@neocitychick) January 3, 2020
This is far from the first time the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star has been accused of cultural appropriation. In 2015, Jenner was criticized by actress Amanda Stenberg for sharing an Instagram post in which she sported cornrows with the caption, “I woke up like disss.”
Stenberg was quick to share on her own page, “When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter.”
At the time, Jenner responded flippantly, “Mad if I don’t. Mad if I do.. Go hang [with] Jaden or something,” which appeared to be a reference to Jaden Smith, whom Stenberg attended prom with.
Photo credit: David Crotty / Contributor, Getty