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31 Aug, 2020 08:53

‘Eh, Hello!?’: Singer Adele accused of cultural appropriation for Bantu knots Notting Hill carnival Instagram post

‘Eh, Hello!?’: Singer Adele accused of cultural appropriation for Bantu knots Notting Hill carnival Instagram post

Tottenham-born songstress Adele has incurred the wrath of the woke crowd online, and now stands accused of cultural appropriation, after she shared a photo of her posing in a Jamaican flag bikini with an Afro Caribbean hairstyle.

Adele, 32, took to Instagram to mark the occasion of what would have been the weekend of the Notting Hill Carnival in her hometown in North London, were it not for the coronavirus pandemic.

“Happy what would be Notting Hill Carnival my beloved London,” the star captioned the picture in which she sported a traditional African hairstyle known as 'Bantu knots,' small coiled buns popular among Afro-Caribbean cultures. 

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Needless to say, woke ideologues online were not impressed and flooded the post’s comment section with criticism, blasting the hairstyle as "totally unnecessary" and demanding that Adele, "Stop appropriating Black culture."

"Bantu knots are not for you. Period," they concluded. 

"You can’t tell me you don’t know this is cultural appropriation! Especially in the world’s climate at the moment, You are just trolling at this point!” chimed in another. 

One exhausted user asked why the singer "couldn’t just wear a ponytail?"

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However, the post accrued over 3.75 million likes and the glowing endorsement from a number of high profile celebrities. 

Supermodel Naomi Campbell, whose mother is Jamaican, appeared to endorse the style, with two love heart emojis while Jamaican musician Popcaan shared an equally emphatic fist emoji with a love heart. Westworld star Tessa Thompson also gave Adele the seal of approval with a fire emoji. 

Meanwhile, others just took the post at face value and poked fun at the star’s style with some good-natured ribbing, as the singer was compared to cartoon dolls while others referenced an infamous scene from the American version of the popular sitcom ‘The Office.’

There was even a Jamaican remix of one of Adele’s most popular songs.

The Notting Hill Carnival, one of the largest street festivals in the world, celebrates black culture each year but was moved online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The inaugural event was held in 1966 and was organized by activist Rhaune Laslett to celebrate diversity.

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