cultural appropriation
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'Self-Made' Mogul? Not So Much. Franchesca Ramsey Claps Back at Forbes' Praise of Kylie Jenner
Every so often, someone says exactly what we’re thinking about a certain issue, saving us the trouble. Today, that person was comedian, actress and 2017 Root 100 honoree Franchesca Ramsey (aka “Chescaleigh”), who can now add “mind reader” to her lengthy resume, since she succinctly summed up our thoughts on Forbes magazine calling Kylie Jenner…
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Sophia Chang Ain’t Nothing to Fuck Wit’
In The Art of Exchange, The Root explores the intersections where different identities and communities of color meet. Each story covers a different place or personality that expands or challenges our idea of what cultural exchange, allyship and cross-cultural support look like. Sophia Chang wears her heart on her neck. On a sliver of red…
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Pride for Profit? Nike Catches Criticism for Using the Pink Triangle on Its BeTrue Sneakers
It’s Pride Month, that time of year when rainbow symbology suddenly regains significance in American consciousness—and consumerism. In recent years, mass-market retailers have made big demonstrations of their support of the LGBTQIA community (notably, even more so since the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. in 2015). A stroll down any major retail corridor…
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Was Nicki Minaj’s SNL Performance Cultural Appropriation?
When Nicki Minaj took the stage to perform her hit song “Chun-Li” on the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live, “callout Twitter” rumbled with accusations of cultural appropriation and the fetishization of Asian culture. While some, including a few Asian Americans, accused the rapstress of using stereotypical Asian imagery as a costume, others defended…
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Kim Kardashian Announced the Name of Her Upcoming Lingerie Line (and We Don’t Kare)
We know, we know; we were supposed to start screaming “Cultural appropriation!” from the rooftops upon hearing that Kim Kardashian’s latest venture, a lingerie line (Savage, much?), will be called—get this—“Kimono Intimates.” [Chuckle break.] OK, we’re back. Yeah, that’s … wack, on so many levels. But none of them seem to be levels worth mustering…
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The Bruno Mars Controversy Proves People Don’t Understand Cultural Appropriation
Before we begin any discussion of Bruno Mars and cultural appropriation, we must lay down a few ground rules: This will not be a debate about the quality of Bruno Mars’ work. That discussion is too subjective, and no one will ever reach a consensus on any kind of art. Plus, some people have shit…
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Meshell Ndegeocello Is Right About Bruno Mars Being Karaoke, but I’m Bopping Anyway
Meshell Ndegeocello did not mince words when asked about my beloved Puerto Rican Frankie Lymon, better known as Bruno Mars to the rest of y’all. In an interview with Billboard to promote Ventriloquism, an album of covers, the singer-songwriter and musician made clear that she wasn’t impressed with Mars’ performance of the “Finesse” remix featuring…
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When the Appropriator Is Your Own: On Kendrick Lamar and Why Lina Iris Viktor’s Constellations Does Not Belong in ‘All the Stars’
They just had to ruin it. This was supposed to be an article about the many talents and looks involved in the making of “All the Stars.” Instead, we’re taking a different look behind the scenes of the video we collectively swooned over last week, when Kendrick Lamar’s lead single from the Black Panther soundtrack—featuring…
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Unpopular Opinion: Kanye’s Kim Worship Has Gone Too Far to Be Fashionable
(Editor’s Update: Apparently, this opinion isn’t as unpopular as first thought.) Today in “Baby, what is you doin’?” news: Kanye, GET OUT of here with this Yeezy season 6 campaign! We’re all for folks being their mate’s biggest cheerleaders, but this campaign is taking “muse” to sycophant levels. The “Who wore it best?” series of…
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Could Kim Kardashian’s Cold, Overstuffed Hot Pockets Actually Be the Sunken Place?
On Monday, the human black-man succubus, also known as Kim Kardashian, continued her trek to colonize the entirety of black womanness, thus completing her transition to become the first-ever cloned Armenian sex doll with black mannerisms. She accomplished this latest maneuver by appropriating cornrows. To date, Kardashian and her merry band of familial pirates have…