In a world without social media intense criticism of public figures could be contained in the corners of obscure message boards by PR savvy publicists.
The world, as we all know has changed.
What that means for potentially problematic stars? Hell.
For, after escaping the harsh hand of public criticism during their peaks they now find themselves forced to face the music.
The latest act to find herself in a spot of historic trouble?
Gwen Stefani.
Time had this to say about Stefani in 2014…
Stefani used four backup dancers known as the “Harajuku girls” in all her performances and as an entourage offstage. They followed her everywhere and were reportedly contractually obligated to only speak Japanese in public. She renamed them — as if they were pets — “Love,” “Angel,” “Music” and “Baby” after her album title. As you can see in the video for the song “Harajuku Girls” above, the women are basically puppets. The lyrics of her actual songs aren’t much better. In “Harajuku Girls,” Stefani calls their culture, “A Ping-Pong match between Eastern and Western.”
Unfortunately for her, many still feel the same way today prompting a heated debate online hours ago.
Realizing and accepting that Gwen Stefani is the actual definition of a culture vulture was one of the hardest parts of adulthood
— Water Witch (@_artwerk) September 17, 2017
what’s funny is like… her harajuku thing always made me feel funny, I just didn’t know how to express why at the time
— sinners, follow me (@iLove_CC) September 17, 2017
I know. I love her too. It’s a reality to accept. I don’t hate her and she seems to have cooled it with the appropriation
— Eileen ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@MissWhoeverUR) September 18, 2017
I’m not sure how she got away with using Asian women as accessories.
— Serious Black (@NicT10) September 19, 2017
This in 2012 was her last straw if she even had any left to begin with pic.twitter.com/QQ5dL0661q
— *M| #LOVEANDFALL?? (@heonyshoney) September 19, 2017
Why cultural appropriation is a no-no?
i'm so upset she dodged the era of social media…her ass deserved to get dragged w/ the intensity of a thousand suns
— part-time muslamic (@cantusheabutta) September 19, 2017
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So tired of the hypersensitivity of social media. Ever since 2016 it has gotten significantly worse. There’s cultural appropriation and then there’s cultural appreciation. Gwen used to make Ska infused music with No Doubt which originated in Jamaica. She’s not painting her face brown and drawing/injecting bigger lips. Nor do I think that she’s thinks she’s black or Asian. Yes she’s worn braids before but that’s not appropriation, she never claimed them as her own.
Our love for our black culture has become riddled with people pushing every non-black person out that wears braids, dreads, raps, dances a certain way…we don’t have to accept everyone because there are some culture vultures but NOT everyone smh
Thank you, in Scandinavia our traditional hairstyle is mostly braids, although different from that of black people, is worth mentioning. I have seen many black girls with a Swedish braid hairstyle, are they culture vultures too?…like you said people are so hypersensitive these days.
Sit. Hair braiding originated in Africa, not Scandinavia. Try again.
“Swedish braidstyle”? Try again
Are u dumb ? Braids date all the way back to Africa B.C. Stop trying to justify the fuckery you culture vulture
Where did I say that all types of braids originated in Scandinavia?….I clearly stated that our braids are different in style than those of black people, our type of braids are different and those definitely originated here, read people, READ.
Regardless of the style HAIR BRAIDING originated IN AFRICA! What part of that do you not understand? Hair braiding wouldn’t be a thing if it hadnt have been originated by BLACK PEOPLE . We inspire a lot of things that you do and rarely get the proper credit for it. So stop.
“Hair braiding wouldn’t be a thing if it hadnt have been originated by BLACK PEOPLE“
Are you trying to say, that no one would have come up with that? It’s hardly rocket science. People have played with their hair since the beginning of time.
Boobie = Assimilated Uncle Tom promoting Uncle Tomming whenever that heshe can.
S****** = Racist White heshe Trash that is on EVERY race baiting post.
Ignore those two agenda-having B|tches. Their comments and agendas are idioitic and meaningless!
I SAID! WHAT I SAID!
??????
Hmm I never been a fan..??♂️
Someone is clearly bored….during that era that was also the name of her clothing line and she gave an in depth interview about this… Geez
How does it being the name of her clothing line absolve her of being a culture vulture?
They can sit down with this bullshyt..
Funny how all the comments are from black people ?
Funny how you can tell that just from their twitter handles. #racistmuch?
Yea, the people most affected negatively by racism calling out racism. Who woulda thought?! ?
YOUR POINT IS? What are you trying to say ?
Margaret Cho called her out on this during hey ‘Love. Angel. Music. Baby.’ era in which she got her whole aesthetic from Japanese culture, aside from ‘Hollaback Girl’ which was obviously her attempt at hip-hop culture. Also as much as I’ve loved Madonna, she’s done the same cultural appropriating as Stefani.
Twitter users are just bored and want something to be mad about.
This is the kind of blog post I like. One that encourage engaging debates rather Stan wars. Keep this up and stop with the non sense post please.
Dear White People, I notice it’s mostly you guys who keep trying to down play the issue. I want to give you all a news flash for us people of color cultural appropriation is the Nazi using the Swastika, the KKK using the Cross, Isis using the Islamic banner, and the Kardashians rocking cornrows. All us people of color want to do is excel and strive with out the b*******. Please bleeding heart, culture vulture, White folks LEAVE US ALONE!
Yours Truly
TYLER
I find this very nagative, basically condeming people for doing what they want to do, just because they aren’t from a certain background. It’s called bullying. People should be able to do what they want, without being bullied d. No one owns culture! People need to get over themselves!
Shut the hell up, throw this whole post away.
Being called out for doing something is not “bullying” it is literally calling something out dummy. If you stole something while in a store and a customer tells you to put it back on the shelf they are not “bullying” you but rather calling you out for stealing.
Are you serious? Culture is free for everyone! That’s like me saying, when I’m in Japan, im breathing the Japanese air.. So thats stealng.
Culture isn’t a possession, it’s fine for everyone to use, just like the air we breath. Get over it.
@Yes Stop victimizing yourself. You re no victim and no one is bullying you B|tch. FOH
Miley Cyrus is a good example of this. I think so many people got put off by Miley’s transitioning back to her “whiteness” is because she only appropriated the hip hop culture as long as it benefited her. Hip Hop is a LIFESTYLE which hip hop artist eat, breathe, love and live, it’s even claimed the lives of some of the best of the best like Tupac & Biggie. You just don’t pick it up as a phase thinking it’s cute then put it back down when it cramps your style because the white audience misses the Hannah Montana.
Oh please, no one owns culture. Everyone is free to do what they want. You’ll just have to accept this. Stop putting barriers on people! I won’t be bullied!
You sound dumb.
I’ve never written on a blog in my life though I stop by this site every night ( I’m in Oslo ) I feel like the first comment everyone is so sensitive about everything these days just to start an argument about this or that; maybe being from Savannah (Btw I’m black with a white father ) and I was raised with differently we as black people aren’t the victims we need to stop acting like we are racism is known world wide there’s racism everywhere cultural appreciation is very different than ( culture vulture or whatever ) let people live their lives let people enjoy getting to know different cultures and learn to love different cultures. Why do we need to fight about everything people in Japan loved her, people in South Korea loved her. Black is beautiful but not everything is about us. Let go and go find the joy in being black and learning about what cultures can teach us. It’s so sad makes me not want to read these blogs anymore or ever.
Your not black u r what ur father is a white girl/boy with a black mother so ur thinking makes sense why you thnk the way u do so u do not and cannot speak on what black people feel to the extent people wit 2 real so called black parents do cuz u fight with a side that has nothing to do with blacks and ur fathers side of reasoning u have some white man thinking in you…
Once the homie Bey gives up her collection of blond wigs this will actually be up for debate. There is a difference between appreciation and appropriation but that difference depends on interpretation. Gwen been a free spirit. Also if these Asian women were under contract and on the clock to represent themselves and their culture then so be it. They did it willingly. It’s not like she hired white people to do it. As I was reading the comments a lot of them sounded like trump tweets tbh. They all had they “this is ours u can’t have none…go back to where u came from” feel. I do agree that there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed but art/culture is designed to to transcend and inspire. We don’t own none of this.
There are black (brown-skinned) people with naturally blonde hair. . that hair colour is not exclusive to one race of people
I TRULY DESPISE THIS SOCIAL MEDIA GENERATION… UGH!!!