After posting an photo to Instagram, Ricky Martin is being slammed with cultural appropriation.
Martin wore a Native American headdress along with sunglasses while he was in Miami, Florida, posting the picture to Instagram.
The caption reading: “What happens in Miami…… ends up on IG. #miami #studiotime #creativeprocess”
And as you can imagine, folks were upset as the headdresses, which are also known as war bonnets. They are very important in the Native American culture and those who dawn them are given the highest honor earned and only the most respected as well as trusted leaders in the community are allowed to wear them.
And as much as we love Ricky Martin, last I checked, he was not vetted to wear one.
And one can also assume, Martin was not aware of what he was doing, despite the countless media coverage on it.
Social media commenters made sure to bring awareness to the issue, telling Martin:
“You are an attractive man, but indigenous headdresses have a spiritual and cultural meaning to the tribes they originate from. Unless one has been given to you by tribal elders, people should not be wearing them.”
“This is a sacred spiritual item among the people. Dishonoring & devaluating the culture, history and special meaning should NEVER be ok. When Victoria Secrets did their “Calendar Girls” they pulled the model out because VS had included a headrest on her. They didn’t get away with it. Neither you or any one else be able to.”
“Ricky, man, gotta be careful with the cultural appropriation. That stuff is frowned upon. Love ya!”
“Even within Native communities from the plains not everyone is allowed to wear the headdress for instance. Not only is it cultural appropriation of a culture that’s been crushed for centuries but also it’s desecrating a spirituality. It’s also even more inappropriate that the us government worked so hard to keep natives from wearing that headdress and now white people want to wear it? That’s not right, that’s not fair either. And if a Native American person wears it in public he is going to be insulted! It probably doesn’t come from a place of disrespect, but it comes from a place of utter ignorance.”
“WTF dude. I’m NATIVE AMERICAN, A COMANCHE at that, you have to earn the right and privilege to wear a WAR BONNET? Do you know what EACH FEATHER REPRESENTS ON A WAR BONNET? OMG. What if we dug up your abuelito and abuelita from centuries ago, took their clothes, their jewelry, and wore their items and posted it on social media!?”
And Martin is not the only person who has lately been found for cultural appropriation. Jessica Simpson, Pharrell Williams, Harry Styles, Hilary Duff and Alessandra Ambrosio have also been called out on social media.
Kevin Hart was also raising eyebrows and headlines when he threw his son a cowboys-and Indians-themed birthday party.
The picture is still up on Martin’s Instagram page. And we are all still cringing…
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