Andy Cohen made an oopsie!
The Watch What Happens Live! host tackled the topic of The Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg‘s comment on Kylie Jenner‘s cornrows.
[ Related: Justin Bieber Defends Kylie’s Kornrows! ]
The reality star had posted a picture to Instagram of herself rocking the braided hairstyle, capturing the attention of the actress, who commented on the photo (in reply to another commenter):
“when u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter”
On Monday’s episode of WWHL, Andy decided to dub the online exchange the night’s “jackhole” moment because he figured Amandla was simply trying to pick a fight with the 17-year-old.
He then tried to get his guests, André Leon Talley and Laverne Cox, to weigh in, saying:
“Today’s Jackhole goes to the Instagram feud between Kylie Jenner and Hunger Games star/Jaden Smith‘s prom date Amandla Stenberg, who criticized Kylie for her cornrows, calling it cultural appropriation. White girls in cornrows … is it OK or nay, Laverne and Andre?”
The fashion expert felt it was fine, and the Orange is the New Black actress referenced Bo Derek‘s appearance in the 1979 film 10.
But, after the episode aired, Twitter exploded with the hashtag #BoycottBravo, which was not good for Andy or his network.
So, the TV personality used the status sharing site on Tuesday to formally apologize for his comment on the controversy, writing:
“I want to apologize to Amandla. I didn’t understand the larger context of this cultural discussion and TRULY meant no disrespect to her or anyone else.”
Laverne also felt the need to explain herself, even though she wasn’t even the one who labeled the star’s comment the “jackhole” of the day.
She took to Tumblr to write a heartfelt essay on the WWHL convo, as well as the importance of addressing cultural appropriation in our society, saying:
“When in answer to Andy Cohen’s question on ‘Watch What Happens Live’ on July 12, ‘White girls and cornrows, yay or nay?’ I said what I said in an attempt to not get involved in what I understood at the time to be an Instagram feud between someone with whom I was not familiar and Kylie Jenner on the topic of cultural appropriation.”
She also revealed that she wished she had more time to touch upon cultural appropriation:
“In that moment, I also felt that the topic of cultural appropriation needs way more than the 10 seconds or less I had to respond at the end of the show to fully unpack. I said as much to Andre Leon Tally after the cameras stopped rolling. So on camera with seconds left in a live broadcast I said, ‘Bo Derek’ the first iconic example of a white woman wearing cornrows I could think of.”
The actress added that during the show, she wasn’t familiar with Amandla. However, after a little research, Laverne praised the young star for her discussions on appropriation:
“In researching Amandla’s work and words, I was very impressed with a video I saw from her on cultural appropriation where she chronicled a recent history of cultural appropriation and black hair specifically.”
You can read all of Laverne’s amazing essay on cultural appropriation HERE!
[Image via Apega/Dennis Van Tine/Future Image/WENN.]
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