YOU GUYS @ZENDAYA‘s HAIR IS GIVING US LIFE RIGHT NOW #Oscars2015 pic.twitter.com/vI9R4SWeWS
— Seventeen Magazine (@seventeenmag) February 22, 2015
It’s already difficult to reconcile having opinions about red carpet fashion with the feminist notion that women are more than just what they wear without the cast members of E!’s Fashion Police ruining everything for all of us with their terrible. But with last weekend’s Oscars being so overwhelmingly white to begin with, this joke in particular was in especially bad taste.
Disney channel actress, pop singer and Dancing With The Stars contestant Zendaya Coleman—who, by the way, is only eighteen years old—looked absolutely amazing at the Academy Awards Sunday night, as you can see above. But despite that, Fashion Police “correspondent” Giuliana Rancic saw fit to suggest that she “probably smells like patchouli oil or weed,” obviously referring to her dreadlocks. Meanwhile, remember two weeks ago when Kylie Jenner started wearing her hair in faux-dreads and almost every mainstream fashion magazine called her “edgy?”
Anyway, Zendaya was not about to take this shit lying down and delivered a thoughtful, fantastic critique of Rancic’s joke on Twitter and Instagram, in which she helpfully points out all the intelligent and talented black men and women (including Selma director Ava DuVernay, who was also in attendance) whose dreadlocks don’t smell like weed, either.
— Zendaya (@Zendaya) February 24, 2015
“There is already harsh criticism of African American hair in society without the help of ignorant people who choose to judge others based on the curl of her hair,” the post reads. “My wearing my hair in locs on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in a positive light, to remind people of color that our hair is good enough.”
Rancic has since responded with a half-hearted “I’m sorry you were offended”-style apology over Twitter, saying that, “I was referring to a bohemian chic look.” Yeah. Suuure you were. I think it’s time we all reacquaint Rancic with that dance move Aziz Ansari taught her at the Golden Globes in 2013:
(via USA Today)
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