Uh oh! Korean-American rapper Jay Park has gotten himself into some serious trouble with the Black Twitter community over cultural appropriation, and now he is trending globally.
Apparently it has something to do with his latest Instagram post which features Avatar Darko, one of the new artists signed to his record label, H1GHRMUSIC. In the video, Darko who is a white person styled his hair in dreadlocks, and a lot of people – especially the coloured community – aren’t happy about his hairstyle, calling it cultural appropriation.
Of course, Jay defended the white rapper and addressed some of the negative comments, but his response made it even worse.
“Like every time I twist my hair into spikes with gel, y’all say the same s*** ’cause y’all THINK it looks like dreads… to be honest, this is getting pretty ridiculous… I can’t style my hair?,” he commented.
In another comment he wrote, “Yooo feeling somebody’s music is personal opinion but hating on somebody ’cause of their hairstyle… I’m sorry but THAT ain’t it. Jay Park and Avatar Darko never disrespect the culture and always give back.”
“That’s like saying a non-Asian person shouldn’t use Korean words and shouldn’t listen to K-pop ’cause they didn’t go through all the suffering Korean people went through (if you don’t know, look the s*** up). It’s 2019 and every culture, every ethnicity influences each other and as long as we’re not disrespecting each other, it’s all love and nothing else.”
Okay everyones got diff mindset but isn't it discrimination if u guys limit "dreadlocks" to just one culture? It's rly annoying if ppl keep on telling u what to do with your own hair. U guy's enjoy other cultures too. Dont deny it. Jay Park's just straight to the point tho pic.twitter.com/959lblSZdv
— 𝑅𝑜𝓈𝑒 is Rose 🌹 (@isRose4) January 30, 2019
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Things got even more heated up when he equates non African-American wearing dreadlocks to non Asian listening to K-pop music, and haters started coming at him even harder.
For those of you who may not know, African-American’s hairstyle is a touchy subject be it cornrows, afro, or dreadlocks – and it is not something new. Many non-Black celebs were condemned for sporting these traditionally black hairstyles including Zac Efron, Justin Bieber, EXO’s Kai, GOT7’s Jackson, Kylie Jenner, and more.
African-American people is often look down upon because of their hair. Last year, a 6-year-old kid was turned away on his first day of school because of his dreadlocks, and back in December, a high school wrestler was forced to cut his dreadlocks minutes before his match or he would need to forfeit.
“We are told that our hair is unprofessional, ghetto, dirty, and ratchet. We face so many disgusting stereotypes surrounding our hair. Then white people and non-Blacks decide that our hair is cool, but it’s only cool if they do it. They rid us of everything including our dignity only to steal the thing they criticise us for and ‘make it their own’, and paint it as the latest fashion trend,” one user shared.
Just in case he decides to delete the post before he sees this @JAYBUMAOM pic.twitter.com/hli0zAr5yo
— 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐲❜𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 (@chimdesires) January 30, 2019
After receiving so many backlash, Jay eventually apologise on his Twitter (since he already turned off the comment section on his IG post) in a series of lengthy tweets.
“If I f***ed up, if I crossed the line, I SINCERELY APOLOGISE I can see where a lot of people would be offended. Stop playing though. y’all know JAY PARK LOVES Y’ALL. I’m sorry I f***ed up,” he tweeted.
So what do y’all think? Has Jay gone over the line or is people overreacting? Let us know!
