Unless you’ve given up social media for Lent this year, you must have heard about the controversy currently surrounding Fashion Police’s Giuliana Rancic and Zendaya. The singer showed up to the Oscars looking positively radiant in a beautiful, white Vivian Westwood gown and rocking fierce dreadlocks. On Monday’s Fashion Police episode covering the event, Giuliana Rancic comment on the singers dreads saying “I feel that she smells like patchouli oil… or weed.” This casual racist remark caused an instant uproar on social media.
Zendaya posted a response to the offensive comment on her instagram and twitter scolding the TV host’s “ignorant slurs and pure disrespect.” Zendaya continued to say that she wore the dreads to celebrate the African American culture and show women of color that their hair is just as beautiful as anyone else’s, no matter what society says. She also pointed out many respected individuals, such as college professors, authors, and directors who all wear dreadlocks. Many other celebrities shared their support for the singer. Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington, Solange Knowles and Viola Davis all commended the singer for her eloquent response and pointed out the criticism that women of color face everyday because their hair is considered “different.”
To make matters worse, Giuliana Rancic had praised Kylie Jenner when she sported dreadlocks earlier this month and called them “edgy.” The contrast between the two reactions says a lot about our society. Shows like Fashion Police are problematic already, setting certain standards for beauty and bringing down men and women who don’t meet those standards. The fact that they praised a white teenager for wearing a certain hairstyle but bashed a bi-racial teenager for wearing the same hairstyle is concerning and highlights the racial tensions that plague our society.
Giuliana released a video apologizing for the incident and stated that she learned “its not my intent that matters, it’s the result.” Zendaya forgave the TV show host but many people aren’t ready to let the issue pass so easily. Giuliana’s apology appeared to be filmed professionally and came across to many as damage control rather than a sincere, humble apology.
This isn’t the first time that Giuliana has made a racist remark about a celebrity. On the 2013 Golden Globe’s red carpet Giuliana asked actor Aziz Ansari to show her some dance moves because he seemed like he would “have good rhythm”. The actor questioned whether this assumption was based on his skin tone and ethnicity and proceeded to teach her a valuable dance move, and life lesson, called the “What? That’s Racist. Don’t Say That Again.” Unfortunately, Giuliana didn’t seem to remember this particular step but hopefully in the future she’ll take this advice to heart and think before she speaks.
While we can hope that instances like this never occur again and that all women could show up to events and feel beautiful, it seems unlikely that all of Hollywood will change overnight. We can, however, take a note from Zendaya and acknowledge that “its our job to spot these issues within others and ourselves and destroy them before they become hurtful.”