A post shared by Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) on May 16, 2017 at 11:58am PDT
Demi shared BTS photos of her look back in April, but once the video dropped, people on social media fired back, accusing her of cultural appropriation:
Didn’t Demi Lovato get the memo about dreadlocks? I don’t understand why this is still happening tbh.
— Émi Le Bile (@EmiMarieSK) May 16, 2017
Not sure how I’m feeling about Demi with dreads in the no promises music video
— JustKeepSwimming(@LilyHaycraft1) May 17, 2017
Demi is way too smart to be culturally appropriating dreads, like c’mon girl.
— Soul #1437 (@MenOfLetters143) May 17, 2017
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“Cultural appropriation is the new trend i guess…smh,” one person wrote on Demi’s Instagram post about the new single. “D, you shouldn’t have got dreads :/,” another wrote.
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However, some people weren’t totally clear at first if she was actually wearing dreads or just a style that looked like it:
ok but real talk did i see pics of demi lovato with dreadlocks earlier or was her hair just so messy it looked that way
— deja (@mozikeen) April 25, 2017
vm i found them and tbh everything about this is questionable pic.twitter.com/Nx60yPTguy
— deja (@mozikeen) April 26, 2017
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Demi hasn’t yet responded to the criticism, but she posted a bunch of photos of herself in the music video on Instagram Wednesday.
A post shared by Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) on May 16, 2017 at 11:45am PDT
She’s also not the first celebrity to be accused of cultural appropriation. Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham came under fire in May after she wore a Bollywood-inspired outfit to the MTV Movie TV Awards, including henna tattoos on her hands and a bindi, which is an important part of the Hindu faith. Katy Perry also took heat in April after she posted an image of a Hindu goddess on Instagram with the caption “current mood.” And in late April, Kim Kardashian posted a series of tweets plugging gear on her Kimoji website, including a prayer candle that depicts her as the Virgin Mary.
What do you think—was Demi’s style inappropriate, or just a style?