Justin Bieber, Andy Cohen and the twitterverse all had something to say about cultural appropriation after a social media feud broke out on Sunday between Kardashian clan’s Kylie Jenner and “Hunger Games” star, Amandla Stenberg.
The feud started when Jenner, 17, posted an Instagram of herself sporting cornrows. Stenberg, 17, who has previously voiced her concern about the growing problem of cultural appropriation in fashion and music, commented on the photo, calling Jenner out for appropriating black culture. The comment was deleted soon after Stenberg posted it.
Related: ‘Hunger Games’ actress calls out Kylie Jenner for cultural appropriation
Jenner fired back with a few of her own fighting words and then Stenberg posted a photo on both her Twitter and Tumblr accounts, with a longer, more fully-developed response to cultural appropriation, in general.
It didn’t stop there.
Andy Cohen, host of “Watch What Happens Live!,” poked fun at the online sensation on his show on Sunday night a few hours after the feud during his segment, “Jackhole of the Day.”
“Today’s Jackhole goes to the Instagram feud between Kylie Jenner and “Hunger Games” star/Jaden Smith’s prom date Amandla Stenberg, who criticized Kylie for her cornrows, calling it cultural appropriation,” Cohen said.
“White girls in cornrows … is it OK or nay?,” he proceeded to asks his guest stars, actress Laverne Cox and Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley, both of whom concurred that it was fine.
However, Cox and Leon Talley may have been the only two people who were okay with Cohen’s comments. After the show, Twitter exploded with the hashtag #BoycottBravo, directly targeting Cohen.
Whenever the Black community is rightly angry about an issue, the white media showcases a Black celeb saying that we'r wrong. #boycottbravo
— Adj. (@AuntyAdwoa) July 14, 2015@StubbsRerun @amandlastenberg @Andy All in for this. We stand with Amandla. Issue apology Andy. #boycottbravo. Get to work #blacktwitter
— Marie Bano (@mssueme) July 13, 2015Screw Andy Cohen! #BOYCOTTBRAVO Just read what he said about Amandla.
— Artemis Foul (@Ndini_Tsors) July 13, 2015Listening to his critics, Cohen issued an apology on Twitter.
To clarify, I gave the jackhole to an online feud & certainly not to the topic or to any individual. I ironically hate online feuds. I want to apologize to Amandla. I didn't understand the larger context of this cultural discussion and TRULY (cont) http://t.co/zRSOm2rxtN Twitter users also expressed how they were surprised Laverne Cox did not stand up for Stenberg and against cultural appropriation. I don't expect much from Andre Leon Talley or Andy Cohen, but I expected more from Laverne Cox. http://t.co/ARLlArGXWs #BoycottBravo In a similar fashion to Cohen, Cox wanted to reclaim her position on cultural appropriation and did so in a post on tumblr. The next day, Justin Bieber, who has been exposed to his fair share of public scrutiny and personal friend of Jenner’s, jumped into the mess when he commented on the same Instagram. Justin Bieber went to Kylie’s Instagram to defend her
http://t.co/JmJa8dWjv4 pic.twitter.com/gEQeF9A4KN Bieber urged the online community to “leave her alone.” The fight for equality doesn’t start calling a “17-year-old kid” with braids a racist, he said.
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