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USA | Oct 8, 2021

Adele addresses Jamaican culture appropriation claims in rare interview with Vogue

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Snagging both covers of American and British Vogue, Adele bears her thoughts in a rare double-interview.

British singer Adele sat down with Vogue recently and spoke candidly about being accused of ‘cultural appropriation’ after wearing a Jamaican-flag bikini and Bantu Knots popularly known as Chiney Bumps in Jamaica.

The 33-year-old on Thursday (October 7) shared with her over 40 million Instagram followers that she snagged the covers of not one but two issues of Vogue.

A retro-styled Adele fronts the November editions of both British and American Vogue for the November 2021 cover release.

The songstress says that she ‘totally gets’ why she is being accused of ‘cultural appropriation’ after stepping out in the Jamaican inspired look to celebrate the Notting Hill Carnival last summer, which was staged virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Adele uploaded a picture to Instagram of herself posing in the garden of her US$9.5million Beverly Hills home, sporting the Bantu knots, captioning the post “Happy what would be Notting Hill Carnival.”

The backlash was swift and her actions were labelled as ‘insensitive’ after she opted to keep the post up.

“I could see comments being like, ‘the nerve to not take it down,’ which I totally get. But if I take it down, it’s me acting like it never happened,” she told Vogue.

“And it did. I totally get why people felt like it was appropriating,” she added.

“I had thought, if you don’t go dressed to celebrate the Jamaican culture – and in so many ways we’re so entwined in that part of London – then it’s a little bit like, ‘What you coming for, then?'” she questioned.

“I didn’t read the f***ing room. I was wearing a hairstyle that is actually to protect Afro hair. Ruined mine, obviously,” Adele explained.

This interview comes on the heels of the Hello singer sending millions of fans into a fevered frenzy after teasing her comeback single titled Easy On Me on Tuesday, the lead single which is set to drop next Friday is off her forthcoming studio album.

Profiting off Black culture   

Angry fans and social media users described Adele as just another ‘culture vulture’ stealing from blacks for profit.

“Adele is giving us Bantu knots and cultural appropriation that nobody asked for. This officially marks all of the top white women in pop as problematic. Hate to see it,” commented one social media user.

The post was also a reveal of her new body to the world after shredding over 100 pounds, “Adele dropped that weight and said it’s time for her cultural appropriation era,” another user chimed in.

Adele was basically accused of committing a crime by one user who said “If you haven’t quite understood cultural appropriation, look at Adele’s last Instagram post. She should go to jail no parole for this.’

Is it really that serious?

While the singer-songwriter was being attacked on social media with brutal comments, some fans quickly came to her defence.

(Photo: GlamourUK)

“For those of you who don’t know, there are white Jamaicans,” an Instagram user commented.

“Really it’s just a hairstyle I’m pretty sure there is more important things we can worry about,” added another.

Celebrities weigh in

Jamaican singer Alexandra Burke praised the star for her new body saying “She looks hot, she’s looking good.”

Dancehall artiste Popcaan also jumped into Adele’s comment section with a fist and a red heart emoji.

American actress Zoe Saldana also commented, telling the singer “you look right at home guurrrl!” followed by British supermodel Naomi Campbell, who has Jamaican roots with two red hearts and two Jamaican flags emoji.

Adele whose full name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is an English singer-songwriter who has a total of 15 Grammys under her belt spanning her more than decade long career.

She grew up in Tottenham, London with her parents Mark Evans and Penny Adkins.

She is one of the world’s best-selling music artistes, with sales of over 120 million records. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a record deal with XL Recording.

She is best known for songs like Rolling in the Deep and Hello.

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