Perrie Edwards, singer in the band Little Mix, is being slammed on Instagram for being “disrespectful” and culturally insensitive for wearing moccasin-style shoes.
Edwards posted a picture of the shoes this week, which led to a flood of criticism about how her legs were not adequately shaved and how a white person like her wearing moccasins amounted to “cultural appropriation.”
Here’s a sampling of the gems found in the photo’s comments section:
sofpeterson: Just that I hate ignorant white people. Including you. Get educated on cultural appropriation bc that s[**]t isn’t right@exotnic
and
phoebearonds: If you’re not Native American you have no business wearing these traditional celebratory moccasins for purely “bohemian” fashion purposes; it’s wrong and silly and disrespectful.
and
littlebitofjackson: No disrespect I genuinely love Perrie but, who cares if she “likes it and has an interest in it”? Cultural appropriation is cultural appropriation. You can’t defend that. Someone’s culture isn’t a fashion statement.
Yeah, that’s right: “You can’t defend that.” Wearing moccasin shoes as a white girl is so unbelievably unacceptable that there is no possible defense for it! I mean, for less serious stuff (for example, killing another person), there can sometimes be a defense — but for something as serious as wearing moccasins? No way!
This is, of course, very, very dumb. Everything is inspired by something else, and sometimes inspirations come from other cultures. Can we relax a little bit? Please?
— Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review Online.