Talk about bananas. Is she trying to start a new trend here? Italian-American Gwen Stefani, who grew up in Southern California, of all places, is being slammed for calling herself Japanese in a bizarre declaration that a lot of people are calling cultural appropriation at its worst. Here’s what you need to know.
AMP in the post
Gwen Stefani – Slammed For Calling Herself Japanese In Bizarre Interview
In an interview with Allure Magazine, Gwen talked about one of her last trips to Japan and said, “My god, I’m Japanese and didn’t know it.” She then said, “I am you know.”
If that weren’t enough, Gwen also clapped back at all her haters that criticized her for her Harajuku period. She simply said that she was a superfan of the culture. Gwen said, “
If (people are) going to criticize me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, then I just think that doesn’t feel right. I think it was a beautiful time of creativity…a time of the ping-pong match between Harajuku culture and American culture. If we didn’t buy and sell and trade our cultures in, we wouldn’t have so much beauty, you know?”
Gwen made her comments to journalist Jesa Marie Calaor, who is Filipina American, and someone who certainly had a lot to say on the matter. “Like Stefani, I am not Japanese,” she wrote. “But I am an Asian woman living in America, which comes with sobering realities during a time of heightened Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate. … I envy anyone who can claim to be part of this vibrant, creative community but avoid the part of the narrative that can be painful or scary.”
AMP in the post
Did Gwen Stefani Go Too Far?
And while Gwen did say that she felt Japanese at least twice in the interview, she also added that she’s a little bit of an Orange County girl, a little bit of a Japanese girl, a little bit of an English girl.”
A rep for Gwen says that she was misunderstood in the interview.
We will update you with all of the latest information as it comes in. In the meantime, let us know what you think with your thoughts in our comments section again. Be sure to catch up with everything on the British Royal Family right now. Come back here often for the British Royal Family news and updates.
AMP in the post
Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com