Kylie Jenner’s new cornrows are the subject of her latest social media row. Hunger Games actress Amandla Stenberg accused the K eeping Up With the Kardashians star of cultural appropriation, and Kylie tried to throw Amandla’s friendship with Jaden Smith back at her as an insult.
According to VIBE , Amandla Stenberg took issue with the photo of Kylie Jenner below. As you can see, Kylie’s icy blue hairdo didn’t last long at all — she’s gone back to her natural black hair color.
https://instagram.com/p/5AWcLYHGty/?taken-by=kyliejenner
Kylie’s new cornrows annoyed Amandla so much that she couldn’t resist commenting on them. According to the actress, Kylie needs to learn what it’s really like to be black if she’s going to rock a traditionally-black hairstyle. Amandla thinks that Kylie needs to spend less time worrying about her looks and more time helping black Americans by focusing on the social injustice that they have to deal with on a daily basis.
“When you appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism,” Amandla wrote on Kylie’s Instagram page. She tacked on the “#whitegirlsdoitbetter” hashtag to really get her point across.
Kylie Jenner responded to this message by trying to take a dig at Amandla’s prom date , Jaden Smith.
“Mad if I don’t, Mad if I do,” Kylie wrote. “Go hang w Jaden or something.”
As VIBE points out, many Twitter users following this social media spat were surprised that Kylie used Jaden as an insult — the reality show star and Will Smith’s son used to be super-close, but it looks like she may no longer be pals with the wannabe superhero.
Kylie’s Jaden Smith mention was soundly lambasted on Twitter.
Kylie thinks she’s above Jaden now that she has an older man. pic.twitter.com/dC7uRG7p3B
— ??? ?* ???? (@GrandeLoyalty) July 12, 2015
“go hang out with jaden”. yeah that’s not shade kylie, you’d think with all her performative blackness she’d have grasped that skill already — marcía (@kcheersbye) July 12, 2015
What’s Kylie all about Jaden smith has more album sales than Tyga
— El Chapo (@KingMitel) July 12, 2015
Is she mad that Jaden took Amandla to prom? Well Kylie you could have gone to prom too if you actually attended H.S. — light of zartha (@priestesscheeba) July 12, 2015
“Go hang with jaden” – Kylie Jenner Your boy got the same net worth as Tyga at 16 wyd @KylieJenner pic.twitter.com/FJHlVtJ54O
— faye!!! (@ovomccann) July 12, 2015
Amandla Stenberg will be happy to know that Kylie Jenner’s cornrows didn’t last for long. A few hours later, Kylie shared a photo of her braid-free hair.
https://instagram.com/p/5BV8V9nGlS/?taken-by=kyliejenner
According to Daily Dot writer Derrick Clifton, the way Kylie treated her cornrows is problematic. To her, they were a disposable style worth nothing more than one selfie opportunity.
“Just because you may find any elements of another culture or subculture to be awe-inspiring, or even have an odd fetish or fascination with it, using those expressions dispensibly is an insult that comes with a long history and trend of racial and ethnic discrimination and prejudice,” Clifton writes. “It’s insulting to say the least.”
Amandla Stenberg shares more of her views on cultural appropriation in the video below. It’s titled “Don’t Cash Crop on My Cornrows,” and the 16-year-old created it for her history class.
Kylie Jenner isn’t the only Keeping Up With the Kardashian star who has caused a social media commotion by rocking cornrows. According to E! News , Marie Claire magazine was criticized for posting the tweet below praising Kendall Jenner’s braids .
Kendall Jenner takes bold braids to a new epic level: http://t.co/IMPn41xorh pic.twitter.com/Cgp7X8CfNg
— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) April 2, 2014
Marie Claire came under fire for saying that Kendall’s hairstyle was something “new” when cornrows have existed for ages. The magazine eventually apologized for the tweet.
We didn’t mean to offend or imply that cornrows were new. Our tweet was poorly worded.
— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) April 2, 2014
Do you think Amandla Stenberg was right to criticize Kylie Jenner’s cornrows?
[Image credits: Amandla Stenberg , Kylie Jenner / Instagram]