Actress Florence Pugh has made a lengthy Instagram post reflecting on and apologising for her own cultural appropriation, after a fan called her out.
The star of Midsommar and Little Women revealed that she got cornrows when she was 18, at a time when they were a fixture on red carpets filled with “famous, white women.”
She showed them to a photographer friend, who said that they had been banned at her school and explained the concept of cultural appropriation. She then reflected on:
“… [the] history and heartbreak over how when Black girls do it they’re mocked and judged, but when white girls for it, it’s only then perceived as cool. It was true. I could see how Black culture was being so obviously exploited. I was defensive and confused, white fragility coming out plain and simple.”
She then went on to say that she went through a phase of wearing henna after being introduced to it by a shopkeeper in Oxford, and that it, too, became a trend, “cheapening” the culture and religion from which it came as it spread into high street shops.
After a fan called her out for a photo of her at the age of 17, dressed in Rastafarian style, the actress said that she did some reflecting on her past actions, and apologised. She wrote:
“I’m truly sorry to all of you that were offended for years or even just recently. I cannot dismiss the actions I bought into years ago, but I believe that we who were blind to such things must acknowledge them and recognize them as our faults, our ignorance and our white privilege and I apologize profusely that it took this long.”
Florence Pugh will next be seen in Black Widow. You can see her post below:
