Gwen Stefani Accused Of Cultural Appropriation For Wearing Dreadlocks In Sean Paul Music Video

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Gwen Stefani’s new music video with Sean Paul and Shenseea is getting a lot of unwanted attention from people accusing the pop star of cultural appropriation. In the visual for Sean’s latest single titled “Light My Fire,” Gwen, who is a featured artist on the track, can be seen in a dress in the colors of the Jamaican flag while her bleach-blonde hair has transitioned to dreadlocks.

People on social media certainly made their opinions heard, with Gwen’s name trending on Twitter on Friday morning, but the feedback to the video wasn’t all that positive. “Ahhhh Gwen Stefani went back to her Jamaican roots. Nature is really healing,” one person joked, while another added, “It’s just odd because I doubt Carrie Underwood would have dreads in a music video featuring Burna Boy…… so Gwen Stefani needs to check today’s temperature.”

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Another person tweeted, “Gwen Stefani even has ~dread~ like twists in that video. I am proper screaming. She has seen all the tweets saying her cultural appropriation era is missed and she said BET.” Of course, this isn’t the first time people have accused Gwen of cultural appropriation, after having previously dated her No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal — who is of Indian descent — in the ’90s, during which time she began wearing a bindi.

Then, when she released her debut album “Love Angel Music Baby,” it appeared Gwen was heavily inspired by the Japanese culture, including the addition of hiring two Japanese dancers as her “Harajuku Girls.”

In a 2019 interview with Billboard, the mother-of-three addressed the aforementioned backlash, saying she felt somewhat offended by the fact that people perceived her work with Japanese dancers to be offending their culture.

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“When you’re from Anaheim and never traveled outside of your city until you’re 21 years old, it was really crazy to go to Japan,” she explained. “My dad went there a lot because he worked with Yamaha motorcycles, so I had a fascination from a young age. When I got there and saw how fashion-obsessed they were, I thought they were my people, because my style was so unique.”

“I get a little defensive when people [call it culture appropriation], because if we didn’t allow each other to share our cultures, what would we be?” she asked. “You take pride in your culture and have traditions, and then you share them for new things to be created.”

Gwen has sold a whopping 30 million albums worldwide and deemed one of the best-selling pop artists of the ‘00s, with hits including “Luxurious,” “Hollaback Girl,” “Cool,” and “The Sweet Escape.”

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