Under fire: Celebrities accused of cultural appropriation

Under fire: Celebrities accused of cultural appropriation - Pop culture is a melting pot where cultures and customs fuse and coexist. However when borrowing is done in bad taste, it’s called something a little different: cultural appropriation. This term references when someone from a dominant culture adopts cultural elements from a marginalized community in a way that reduces the group to a stereotype. Check out this gallery to see which stars were accused of cultural appropriation in the public court of opinion.

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Katy Perry - One of the pop star's most controversial moments was her performance at the 2013 AMA awards where she depicted a Japanese geisha—with a kimono, parasol, cherry blossoms, and paper lanterns.

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Katy Perry - A year later she wore cornrows in her video for 'This Is How We Do.' In a podcast interview, Perry said, "I won't ever understand some of those things because of who I am. I will never understand, but I can educate myself."

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Kylie Jenner - The youngest Jenner has repeatedly been called out for appropriating African-American culture. Some examples include wearing a do-rag to fashion week and wearing her hair in cornrows on Instagram.

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Amandla Stenberg had a problem with Kylie - The 'Hunger Games' star called Jenner out on Instagram for appropriating black culture and failing "to use [her] position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards [her] wigs instead of police brutality or racism." Stenberg went on to create a more in-depth post explaining her thoughts, and even a video explaining why wearing cornrows is so problematic.

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Kim Kardashian - Like her sister, Kim Kardashian also donned cornrows in Instagram photos, and her #breaktheinternet photoshoot sparked a huge public debate, as it seemed to be a problematic portrayal of a black woman.

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Khloe Kardashian - The Kardashians are all in this together! Khloe has posted a photo of herself in dreadlocks, as well as a photo of herself wearing a Native American headdress, neither of which were removed.

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Scott Disick - Kourtney Kardashian's ex dressed up as an Arab sheikh for Halloween in a post on Instagram, further fueling the fire for the movement that declares, "My culture is not a costume."

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Karlie Kloss - The model walked down the Victoria's Secret runway in 2012 in a Native American headdress and lingerie inspired by the traditional garb, which is loaded with spiritual and ceremonial significance. Viewers were horrified at the ignorance of both the company and the model, and Kloss's look was pulled from the televised show.

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Selena Gomez - The pop singer's song 'Come and Get It' was repeatedly accused of cultural appropriation, as Gomez donned traditional Hindu garb, including a bindi, but then sexualized it, using it for commercial gain.

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Selena Gomez - She performed the song—which she described as having a "Hindu, tribal feel" according to The Cut—on tour and at big televised events like 'Dancing With the Stars' and the MTV Movie Awards. During these shows she incorporated a Bollywood routine with no Indian dancers. Despite the backlash she received, she did not apologize.

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Selena Gomez - The Universal Society of Hinduism leader Rajan Zed even spoke out about Gomez's performance and demanded an apology after explaining, "The bindi on the forehead is an ancient tradition in Hinduism and has religious significance…. It's not meant to be thrown around loosely for seductive effects or as a fashion accessory aiming at mercantile greed," according to The Cut.

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Other bindi offenders include: Katy Perry - To complete her non-Hindu look, Perry decided to tack on a bindi for the aesthetic at the 2010 Grammy awards.

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Miley Cyrus had a bindi phase - For Cyrus it seems that the bindi was just a fashion choice, but it is not regarded as a mere trend for many people around the world, plenty of whom took offense at this casual display.

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Madonna hopped on the bandwagon bindi - When the trend of the '90s seemed to be dipping into different cultures for artistic inspiration, Madonna donned a bindi and even henna on her hands for her 1998 MTV performance of 'Shanti'—an upbeat techno song with a Hindu Sanskrit prayer for lyrics. In response to criticism from the World Vaisnava Association, she said, "The essence of purity and divinity is non-judgement… they should practice what they preach… if they’re so pure, why are they watching MTV?”

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Vanessa Hudgens's Coachella bindi - The California music festival has often been criticized for its culturally-appropriating attendees who don insensitive accessories and outfits described as "festival attire." Hudgens is often regarded as the Queen of Coachella, but she's been called out many times for her fashion choices, including her repeated use of henna and bindis.

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Gwen Stefani, the original bindi appropriator - The singer is often credited with bringing the bindi into non-Hindu popular culture in the '90s, and, to the disappointment of many fans, Stefani has been repeatedly accused of cultural appropriation.

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Beyoncé and Coldplay - The collaborating artists released a music video for 'Hymn for the World' in 2016, which caused a little more than a stir. Beyoncé portrays a Bollywood actress, and the video gives a misleading portrayal of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors that celebrates the defeat of evil.

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Beyoncé and Coldplay - Anthea Butler of The Guardian wrote about the unnecessarily Indian video, as well as all the unnecessary appropriations of Indian culture, explaining that they "continue a long, dubious tradition of depicting India as a backdrop for western fun and enlightenment. 'Hymn for the Weekend' mixes cultural and religious practices, commodifying them into a banal, but beautiful message of imagined solidarity."

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Beyoncé - Queen Bey was also accused of cultural appropriation after her performance at Coachella, when she channeled the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti with a full costume and headpiece. Some argue that the culture is ancient enough to not warrant offense, but others prefer the singer to stay in her own lane.

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Miley Cyrus - The pop singer appears again on this list, but this time for appropriating black culture by using twerking in both her performance with Robin Thicke and in her video for 'We Can't Stop.' Artists like Jay-Z and Azealia Banks were quick to criticize Cyrus for using something that originated in black hip-hop culture as another phase of her career.

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Miley Cyrus - In addition to being criticized for wearing a bindi on multiple occasions, including during her performance at a pride concert, Cyrus was also spotted wearing dreads, resulting in an immense groan from viewers.

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Avril Lavigne - The pop-punk singer's 'Hello Kitty' music video was under fire for "Japanese fetishization," as Billboard put it. She responded to the criticism with a tweet that said, "RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!! I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video…" Spoiler alert: it didn't help.

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Chet Hanks - The rapper, and son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, controversially used the n-word to refer to his friend on a now-deleted Instagram post. After receiving backlash he posted a video saying, "Look, I know the majority of y’all are not going to get this because the history is still so fresh in our country. But hip-hop isn’t about race—it’s about the culture you identify with ... Can’t no one tell me what I can’t say," Wet Paint reports. The public appeared to like that even less.

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Eminem - Though his origins are widely respected, there is still a lot of public debate over whether Eminem's use of the n-word is cultural appropriation, especially since, as a white rapper, his music capitalized on the rise in popularity of black hip-hop culture.

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No Doubt - The pop-ska band's video for 'Looking Hot' was nothing short of a hot mess in the eyes of their audience, and the video—which was a gross portrayal of Native Americans—was quickly taken offline soon after its release. The band later apologized saying, "Our intention with our new video was never to offend, hurt, or trivialize Native American people, their culture, or their history," Vulture reports.

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Taylor Swift - The singer's portrayal of black hip-hop culture in her video for 'Shake it Off' reduced the culture to short shorts, chains, leopard print hoodies, big hoop earrings, and twerking—all of which she attempted in comically bad taste, receiving a lot of criticism from the public.

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Lady Gaga - The singer reportedly donned a burka several times, including a neon pink variety at Philip Treacy’s London Fashion week in the wake of the Iraq war, after having equated it with oppression in her song 'Aura,' Metro reports.

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Michelle Williams - On the cover of AnOther magazine, the actress infamously donned "red face" by sporting traditional Native American-style braids, face paint, and feathers. Both Williams and the publication were heavily criticized for their ignorance and insensitivity regarding the inequality still suffered by those minorities.

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Nicki Minaj - The artist performed her new single 'Chun-Li' on 'SNL' in a traditional East Asian outfit, on a stage that featured an Asian-style pavilion, and was flanked by Asian dancers. Her song and outfit were based on a 'Street Fighter' video game character, but the performance proved controversially problematic for some viewers, with some claiming that it was an empowering display and others calling it blatant cultural appropriation.

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Pharrell Williams - In collaboration with Adidas, the singer created a shoe named and designed after Holi, following his first experience with the Hindu festival. Rajan Zed, President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, asked Williams and the Adidas CEO to apologize and rename the shoes, which he said were "highly insensitive" and an inappropriate use of Hindu tradition to create fashion and turn a profit, Metro reports.

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