Rihanna Faces Backlash For Halloween Costume, Fans Accuse ‘BBHMM’ Singer Of Cultural Appropriation

Rihanna may be keeping a low profile ahead of the impending release of her eighth studio album, ANTI, but it looks like Rihanna has upset some of her fans with the latest round of Snapchat videos posted to her personal account on the social media app.

While celebrities took to Instagram and Twitter yesterday to show off their Halloween costumes in honor of the spooky holiday, Rihanna’s fans were concerned to see a lack of social media engagement from Rihanna, given her history of headline-making Halloween costumes in the past.

Last year, Rihanna and her close friends donned green body paint and masks in honor of their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-inspired costumes and, in 2013, Rihanna made headlines for her “Chola girl” costume, in which she donned a plaid blue-and-white flannel, Tommy Hilfiger underwear, and blue-tinted makeup to complete her zombie-esque look, Daily Mail reports.

The year before, Rihanna made headlines for her “Mary Jane” costume, in which she donned a green veil, bodysuit, and bouquet of faux cannabis-looking plants to honor her marijuana-inspired costume.

While it’s no secret that Rihanna likes to take risks with her costumes both on and off the stage, it appears Rihanna has upset people with her choice of costume for this year’s Halloween festivities.

Rihanna neglected to post photos of her costume to Instagram and Twitter, but took to Snapchat to share a series of videos of herself and a group of friends partying it up at a nightclub in honor of the holiday.

https://instagram.com/p/9ix5wEDlKZ/?taken-by=rihonsnap

In the videos, Rihanna is seen donning a blue wig complete with a green, pink, and black headpiece, black dress, and sugar skull-inspired makeup for what fans are interpreting as a Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, costume.

While some fans were surprised to see Rihanna unusually dressed-down for the holiday in comparison to her previous getups, other fans took to Twitter to express their anger and disappointment with Rihanna for allegedly appropriating Mexican culture with her sugar skull makeup.

https://instagram.com/p/9ij1vxn-Iz/?taken-by=mdollas11

One fan writes, “rihanna appropriated Mexican culture with her costume last night but everyones staying mute??” while another adds, “As someone who is Mexican, I took offense to that because it’s such an important part of our culture something our ancestors fought so hard to keep, dia de los muertos is sacred, it isn’t for one to use as a costume or bc it’s trendy and s***.”

While some shamed Rihanna for her alleged cultural appropriation, other fans defended Rihanna by arguing that Rihanna wasn’t intending to offend anyone with her costume.

One fan asks, “…what is so problematic & ‘appropriating’ about Rihanna’s Halloween costume I am genuinely lost because…,” before linking to a post about the origin of sugar skulls while another argues, “is rihanna’s costume wrong and disrespectful? Yes. It is appropriation? No.”

Despite the backlash surrounding Rihanna’s Halloween costume, Rihanna has yet to share photos of her getup on her Twitter and Instagram pages.

While some argue that Rihanna is taking a brief leave from social media in order to gear up for a surprise release of ANTI at some point in the future, other fans continue to shame Rihanna for her lack of social media engagement and news surrounding her new album.

It was recently announced that Rihanna is in talks with Samsung for a $25 million sponsorship deal surrounding the release of ANTI and Rihanna’s subsequent world tour, Billboard reports, leading some fans to believe that ANTI is likely to drop before 2016.

Rihanna has historically released her four previous albums in November, giving Rihanna’s fans hope that ANTI will see a release in the coming weeks.

What do you think of Rihanna’s Halloween costume?

[Photo by Christopher Polk / Getty Images]