Katy Perry Acknowledges Her Cultural Appropriation
Katy Perry is in the midst of a very strange album launch, and to promote her new album Witness, she’s been living in a Big Brother-style house and livestreaming her entire weekend in partnership with YouTube. So far, she’s reunited with Left Shark, talked to Arianna Huffington, cooked with Gordon Ramsay, done yoga with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and sobbed in a very public therapy session with Dr. Siri Sat Nam Singh. Her latest guest was Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, who sat down with Katy for an episode of his Pod Save The People podcast. Like many pop stars, Perry has often been accused of cultural appropriation, and in conversation with Mckesson, she addresses some of her past controversies, including the time she wore cornrows and ate watermelon in her “This Is How We Do” video and the time she wore a geisha outfit to the American Music Awards. “I’ve made several mistakes,” she says. I won’t ever understand some of those things because of who I am. I will never understand, but I can educate myself and that’s what I’m trying to do along the way.” Watch below.
I'm proud of Katy for acknowledging her mistakes with cultural appropriation. She's learning pic.twitter.com/uyHd3upmzx
— la bella vita (@drugproblem) June 11, 2017
Of course, not everyone is satisfied with that:
Your WCW has a new album to sell so she's going on an apology tour but not speaking to the WOC from whom she appropriated. She's 32. https://t.co/tIBRDqF7hB
— April (@ReignOfApril) June 11, 2017
Is this also part of the tour to sell her new album?https://t.co/L5uvm79oR9
— Madhusudan Katti (@leafwarbler) June 11, 2017
Hmmm, Katy cozies up to another friendly and well-known Black man who doesn't challenge her on her cultural appropriation.
You tell me. https://t.co/hheqDGJStZ
— April (@ReignOfApril) June 11, 2017
You saw two minutes of an hour long interview. I don't think it's fair to say that she wasn't challenged, yet. We covered a lot. https://t.co/F5hqnU77i9
— deray mckesson (@deray) June 11, 2017
You are a Black man telling a WoC that you "covered" their problem.
Not enough of these for you to take. https://t.co/dR7jP6WhYM
— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) June 11, 2017