It’s quickly becoming the booty shot seen ’round the world.
Actress Blake Lively’s decision to quote rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot’s lyrics in a recent Instagram post has resulted in charges of racism.
Lively posted a picture Tuesday posing with her back to the camera during a recent red carpet event at the Cannes Film Festival. The 28-year-old actress captioned the shot: “L.A. face with an Oakland booty,” lyrics from Sir Mix-A-Lot’s rap song “Baby Got Back.”
The post has gone viral on Instagram, with more than half a million shares. And condemnation of the Gossip Girl star’s choice of words came quickly from social media users.
Another day, another rich white woman using WOC's bodies as a punchline and commodity. As if Blake Lively wasn't the worst already.
— Kat Bee (@katbeee) May 18, 2016
This is a reminder that Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds got married on a plantation where slave cabins still stand. pic.twitter.com/9rbKXH2WDc
— Melissa Radzimski (@melissaradz) May 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/AVISKINSWEAT/status/732775249767436288
But there were also some social media users who called accusing Lively of racism was an example of fake outrage.
I refuse to worry about Blake Lively posting a sir mix a lot lyric with a picture of her backside. The revolution does not start here.
— roxane gay (@rgay) May 18, 2016
Anyone who thinks Blake Lively is racist or misappropriating culture to some other ludicrous crap needs to STFU. The FAUXRAGE is absurd.
— Some chick named Heather (@hboulware) May 18, 2016
People really need to get over #BlakeLively quoting song lyrics. Why are people so dumb? She is fierce, the end. @blakelively
— Jordan Pruitt (@JordansBlog) May 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/PaulHaydon/status/732942424956362752
https://twitter.com/BlueBryan24/status/733006510360403968
Lively has been here before.
In November 2014, fledgling news website Gawker accused the actress of racism when she launched her new clothing line, “Allure of Antebellum.”
“You’d think that after 12 Years a Slave won all those Oscars, slaves are over,” wrote Gawker‘s Allie Jones of Lively’s pre-Civil War era-inspired clothing line. “According to a Lively-styled fashion spread on her lifestyle website Preserve, the hottest lifestyle for fall is the lifestyle of owning human beings without government interference.”
Far-left feminist website Jezebel called Lively’s post “problematic,” adding that “in the end, it touts a diametrical opposition: that Los Angeles can be equated to elegance and/or beauty (read: whiteness), and that Oakland is its foil (read: blackness).”
At the time of this post, Lively hasn’t taken down the picture. The actress has also not — as most celebrities tend to do — apologized for the apparently controversial photo.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson
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