Beyonce held an African-themed baby shower…and ended up getting called out for cultural appropriation.
The Lemonade singing superstar, whose father is African-American and mother is of Louisana Creole descent, shared images on Instagram of the shower to celebrate her impending twins. The pics prominently showed off her henna decorated bump and showed her and husband Jay Z in African attire:
Cue an eruption of goodwill? No. Instead the backlash to Beyonce’s postings—which she dubbed the “Carter Push Party”—came fast and furious. It revolved around the perception the singer uses Africa to promote her image while not performing concerts in the continent.
“Beyonce always quick to jump on African vibes but…quick to forget there’s actually a Continent called Africa when drawing her tour maps”, said Michelle. “Always Africaning, never in Africa” noted Wambui Waiganjo.
This wasn’t the work of just a few stray Beyonce haters either.
For all this Africa themed baby stuff, Beyoncé seems pretty reluctant to come here. Stinks of cultural appropriation.
— AKA (@akaworldwide) May 22, 2017
Beyonce rushing to steal things from the African Culture
Beyonce when its time to do a World Tour and she can’t locate Africa pic.twitter.com/VE3zyVs2Ea
— The Instigator (@AmBlujay) May 21, 2017
Here’s my problem: Is Beyoncé ‘appropriating’ African culture as an African American with immense social and cultural
capital and mobility?— rosehips✨ (@kemthetic) May 22, 2017
Many people have pointed out that far from ignoring Africa, Beyonce has been to Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa in recent years.
The woman herself is likely taking this backlash in her stride. Well, if your Instagram posts were worth $1 million, you would too.