It’s been two days since Blake Lively posted this ^^ Instagram about her “L.A. face with an Oakland booty.” And for what it’s worth, she hasn’t taken down the Instagram post. Perhaps because she didn’t and doesn’t seen anything wrong with a Becky quoting a Sir Mix-a-Lot song. The “LA face with an Oakland booty” is a lyric from Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” a song that has an amazing shelf-life, right? Well, someone FINALLY asked Sir Mix-a-Lot what he thought about Blake quoting his song and claiming that she too has an “Oakland booty.”
He likes Blake Lively’s butt and he cannot lie. Hip hop star Sir Mix-a-Lot defended the actress a day after she was lampooned on social media for using a lyric from his seminal hit “Baby Got Back” to caption a photo of her derriere in a form-fitting gown.
“I don’t think she’d wear that dress if she thought that booty is horrible — and to me, it ain’t horrible,” he told the Daily News on Thursday. Despite his approval, a slew of fans blasted Lively for captioning the Instagram photo “L.A. face with an Oakland booty” — with some accusing the Caucasian starlet of turning the black female body into a punchline. But Mix-a-Lot doesn’t understand the backlash.
“I don’t get it at all,” he said. “She’s saying she’s proud of her butt. I’m glad she embraced the look, because that’s what I wanted (with the song).”
Mix-a-Lot says he wrote “Baby Got Back” in 1992 to celebrate women in a time where magazines and TV shows were churning out unrealistic beauty standards. He wanted curvaceous ladies to embrace their bodies, and he says his booty-loving anthem applies to women of all colors and ethnicities. Therefore, the rapper says, it’s important for naysayers to figure out what exactly Lively’s intention was with the caption before they immediately assume she was dissing black culture.
“All I would say to the critics is let’s better understand the context of what she said,” Mix-a-Lot contended. “If what she’s saying is ‘I have this butt that Mix-a-Lot was talking about in ‘Baby Got Back,’ that’s a good thing. She’s saying I’ve embraced this ideal of beautiful. However, if what she’s saying is ‘I cannot believe I got this fat, this is horrible,’ then I agree with the critics,” he added. But the 52-year-old artist doesn’t believe that’s the case, and he’s glad the 28-year-old Lively hasn’t removed the controversial photo amid the wave of backlash.
“I’m glad she didn’t pull it down, he said. “I don’t think she should.”
I understand what he’s saying about Blake perhaps making a statement of embracing her curves and how it’s all body positive and la de da, but there IS a racial element to it, right? We’re not just imagining that. For a white woman to publicly proclaim that she has an “Oakland booty” is questionable at best. But anyway, what is Sir Mix-a-Lot going to say? Of course he likes her booty.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, WENN.
Don’t care. Still an idiot.
Why is she a thing? She has got to be the most annoying no talent nothing out there……….
I agree. She has zero talent. I can’t for the life of me understand why she’s a thing either. Go figure!
I’m pretty sure he wrote the song about his girlfriend at the time, who did the intro to the song (and is black)
Well said about Sir Mix-A-Lot. He was definitely embracing the curves of WOC; while poking fun at skinny women with no curves and fake body parts.
I ain’t talkin’ bout Playboy
‘Cause silicone parts are made for toys
I want ’em real thick and juicy
So find that juicy double
Mix-a-Lot’s in trouble
Beggin’ for a piece of that bubble
So I’m lookin’ at rock videos
Knock-kneed bimbos walkin’ like hoes
You can have them bimbos
I’ll keep my women like Flo Jo
A word to the thick soul sistas, I want to get with ya
I won’t cuss or hit ya
Now tell me if those lyrics are embracing someone like Blake.
Blake is more the girl in the intro saying
Oh, my, God Becky, look at her butt
It is so big, she looks like
One of those rap guys’ girlfriends.
But, ya know, who understands those rap guys?
They only talk to her, because,
She looks like a total prostitute, ‘kay?
I mean, her butt, is just so big
I can’t believe it’s just so round, it’s like out there
I mean gross, look
She’s just so, black
No one can be sure who he wrote that song about or what inspired him. Mix-A-Lot once said he got the idea of Baby Got Back from an old Parliament Record called Motor Booty Affair, then years later he said the song was inspired by Jennifer Lopez when she was a Fly Girl on “In Living Color.” Then he also said it was about his girlfriend Amylia Dorsey. He flip flops too much to believe which is the actual case or perhaps all three.
Just because a song (or book or poem or whatever) was written about a specific thing or for a specific group of people doesn’t mean that nobody else can enjoy it or find meaning in it. I think Sir Mix A Lot understands that, and since the song is about embracing your natural figure in a time where heroin chic or big fake Playboy boobs were in, he just kept with that; if she’s happy, I’m happy.
Because let’s face it, the song became much bigger than simply being a hit, and the message hit home with women from all ethnicities. Perhaps it was written with one woman or group of women in mind, but it spoke to so many more. You don’t get to decide that as an artist, who will enjoy your work and what meaning they will find in it. Sir Mix A Lot is probably thrilled that his song was embraced by so many and became such a cultural touchstone. Why in the world would he be negative about it?
@V4Real: The only time I’ve seen him really talk in-depth and not for click bait (and I can’t even believe I remember this, or the fact that I have actually watched a deep dive into the song Baby Got Back), he and the girlfriend gave a pretty detailed explanation. But while she’s a former model, she’s not famous, so that’s not the inspiration that “stuck”. At the time it was basically a love letter to her figure, because she had this crazy booty but it wasn’t “in fashion” at the time to have big butts.
And in general, the song is meant to have an inclusive message about beauty and sexiness. It is definitely specifically about black women, but Sir Mix A Lot genuinely seems to want it to be embraced by anyone that wants to.
I really doubt that Jennifer Lopez is Taíno, she’s probably heavily European with African and possibly some small amount of native Taíno blood. According to studies most Puerto Ricans have majority European and African ancestry, not a whole lot of Taíno. On Instagram and YouTube a lot of Puerto Ricans share their ancestry DNA results and those tests always show majority African and European ancestry with small traces of Taíno. Just saying lol.
Why would Sir Mix A Lot be offended or care…all of this dialogue about a song written in ’92…more $$$…songs are subjective and open to interpretation. Words have different meanings for everyone. If you relate on any level who in the Hell is ANYONE to say what it means to an individual !! I’m SO over the over analyzing everything to death !! It’s a bloody song not the National Anthem !!
The video means nothing…Not referring to this particular song but…double entendres ??!! The roller skate song?
The less she talks, the better, like some many of her contemporaries.
“What does Sir-Mix-A-Lot think about all this?” is a question that is not asked nearly enough. This made my morning.
And what a great response he gave! I don’t see the racial aspect of this. I have the song on my phone, my 3 yr old listens to it all the time. We are white, can’t everyone love big butts??
@really Agree 100%!!!
@Really – I’m with you 100%. I can see where the criticism comes from, but I really don’t feel like that’s how it was intended. It a lyric from a throwback song that she probably isn’t even old enough to remember the original release of.
I feel old after typing that… lol
I agree with you (I’m black, Jamaican… if that matters). I don’t have a problem with her quoting that song. I think she was just celebrating having a little more junk in her trunk. Whether people think it’s a nice enough butt to celebrate is on them, she likes it and wants to celebrate it and good for her for doing so.
Do only white women have “LA faces”? Do only black women have “Oakland booties”? It’s so odd to me to hear people say “white people shouldn’t…” and follow with some silly things like hairstyles or quoting a song sung by a black person. God forbid they like/embrace our culture.
I agree!
Honestly I kinda wish she’d quoted almost any other line from the song, because I have no doubt she just wanted to be playful and had no intention of being racist.
I love the song; it was my first experience with mass media celebrating women with my figure. That meant a lot in a time where I was called fat for having a big butt and thighs to match. It made it okay for me to take pride in that, and that was huge.
I actually think she may have avoided a couple of the most iconic lines because they’re already strongly associated with other women:
“Becky” immediately brings up Beyonce
“Anaconda” was of course the Nicki Minaj song that remixed Baby Got Back.
Or maybe not.
I agree! Instead of WWJD, it should be WWSMALD 🙂
LOL
On a superficial note SMA still looks good after all this time.
I start every day with “What does Sir Mix-a-Lot think about this?” Works fine.
I’m peeling off my “WWJD” bumper sticker and putting on a “WWSMALD”
At last humanity has reached the point where a mediocre actress and a one hit wonder can make each other relevant for a whole day! Is there really anywhere else for us to go? I think not. Close it down folks, last one out turn off the lights.
Another match made in ‘dingbat meets 1990s’ PR heaven…
I love Sir Mix A Lot, and that may have been 1 hit (though since he’s from around here I’ve heard a lot more of his music played) but that is one of the most massive songs ever produced. Let’s give him a little credit here.
Awww, I do give him credit. He likely made more money off that once song than I’ll make in my life. But really when is the last time he made international headlines? And should this in any way be enough for international headlines?! 🙂
This is hilarious – he actually made headlines recently here in Seattle because some guy got a new cell # that used to be Sir Mix A Lot’s, and was just inundated with calls from women! Calls, pics, texts, party invites…
OK folks, go ahead. Enjoy your fifteen minutes of hatred undisturbed.
I mean really. Last I heard there ARE white people who live in Oakland.
I always identified with the song because I have a big butt too. Should I not have because it’s only meant for black women?
I think this is a little rediculous.
But what you’re forgetting is that when Sir-Mix-a Lot released this song 25 years ago he explained that he was talking about Black who resided in Oakland that had beautiful faces and large butts, which was not accepted in Hollywood.
LMFAO!
Sir Mix A lot (gosh I can’t believe I’m typing that in 2016) famously got backlash for this song from the black community that he chose to ignore when the song was released. The song wasn’t meant for.black women to feel good, because when we have a big butt it’s just an expectation, when white women have a big butt it’s assumed it’s not natural. It’s a sad cycle.
“Rotundity” is such a great word.
LOL, word of the day… “rotundity”. I’ll try my best to drop it in conversation throughout the day. It would be awesome if I had some rotundity of the backside.
Lupita has big butt and thick thighs. She may not be plus size overall, and her upper body is skinny and muscular, but her lower half isn’t skinny. Not snarking on her or saying she hasn’t got great legs, because she does, but her figure doesn’t conform to the stereotypical Hollywoid figure. She’s simply a great dresser who draws the eye on other aspects of her appearance.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lupita+nyongo+legs&oq=lupita+nyongo+legs&aqs=chrome..69i57.13871j0j4&client=tablet-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=7w9X7Isx_PPOIM%3A
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lupita+nyongo+legs&oq=lupita+nyongo+legs&aqs=chrome..69i57.13871j0j4&client=tablet-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=Kto-buE4lmhi5M%3A
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lupita+nyongo+legs&oq=lupita+nyongo+legs&aqs=chrome..69i57.13871j0j4&client=tablet-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=9rh5-ynnm_c8UM%3A
Often, only her upper half is photographed, and she dresses to her figure, so people don’t notice her lower half.
As @Deedee said. He didn’t get backlash from the Black community but the video was briefly banned from MTV. It was Black people pushing for its return.
I agree with your general sentiment, not all black girls have round butts and not all white girls dont.
But all the women you named have round bottoms. They are considered unremarkable because those butts sit on black bodies. Remember Trumps infamous Howard Stern interview where he thought Halle was gorgeous from waist up only? Why do you think that was? If a white girl had Lupitas bum, she would be hailed as the second coming. Remember the fuss over a mildly perky Pippa Middleton? Thats what Blake was trying to tap into here with her unremarkable bottom.
TBH if you really look at Lupita’s ass it’s not that big. JLo has a bigger ass. Black women such as Lisa Ray, Vivica A. Fox and Serena WIlliams have big asses. Even Coco, Ice T’s wife has a bigger ass.
And it’s not like roles have been pouring in for Lupita, so she really doesn’t fit the Hollywood standards. Two roles consisted of her doing voice work, you didn’t even see her face. Let’s hope she does better in Hollywood now that she has been cast in The Black Panther movie.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2651007/Lupita-Nyongo-shows-incredibly-toned-bikini-body-strolls-surf-Maui-ahead-film-festival.html
Her ass is normal size compared to others.
http://www.mjemagazine.com/photos-serena-williams-flaunts-massive-booty-new-bikini-photos/
I dont think anybody said that Lupitas bottom is the same size as Serenas. What we are saying is that her C shape down there is more pronounced than the average white ingenue. And that while it is considered completely unremarakable on a black girl, if a white girl had that on the same frame she would be an ass superstar.
For the record I also think Jlo also benefitted from that Pippa effect. She has a nice booty but so do most afro latinas. You wont find a parade being thrown for those booties. Jlo had her struggles for seeming too urban in Hollywood but bodywise she gave people a booty to fixate on that happily wasnt strapped to black skin. Same goes for Kim and her newly augmented sisters.
I NEVER even heard the line LA face with an Oakland booty and I’ve listened to this some 80 million times. I literally thought it was “pretty little face with a big round booty”
Hahah d’oh!
Hahahaha! I thought I was bad at misinterpreting lyrics to songs, but that was bad. Thank you for the laugh.
What Naya said.
No one said Lupita’s butt and legs were comparable to Serena’s butt and legs.
Here is Lupitas Vogue video for 73 Questions https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6znpZ5Ne1ZA. I chose it because there are a lot of side and backshots, and its moving picture so you cant claim photoshop. This girl is stacked, which is pretty ordinary for a black girl but somebody like Blake would build her entire PR on that ass if she owned it. Lets see someone try deny it now.
I don’t think Lupita’s butt is big, most of the white women in their 20’s and 30’s at my gym have an ass like that or bigger.
Her butt is big in relation to her upper body, and those proportions are much more unusual in white women, but in general that is not a big butt.
I think Blake is extremely sheltered. It isn’t an excuse at all. She’s lived and continues to live a privileged life.
The new rule needs to be if you have not experienced or are knowledgeable in certain areas,keep your mouth shut.
Still she should really just shut up and look pretty.
I mean….sexism.
I think she’s dumb, but….awkward.
She makes a fool out of herself every time she opens her mouth and besides looking pretty what else is she good at?
Okay Sir M A L: you got some new hits on an old song, good tune, funny. She is still an overrated, overexposed tool.
“It ain’t horrible” <- high praise?
That song is iconic. I know Blake has gotten a lot of heat at Cannes, but she’s quoting a 25 year old song that EVERYONE knows. At this point folks are just looking for something to criticize.
Granted, I’d have gone with “my anaconda don’t want none” but that’s just personal taste.
LOL
I’m with you.
@Kitten – Same here.
But the thing is, hardly anyone criticized her. There were a few negative tweets, and the media decided to run with it, claiming that the “black community ” was outraged. I think most people couldn’t care less.
That drives me crazy.There are approximately 40 million black people in this country.Most of whom have never heard of her.A few dozen people tweeted about this BS.
I think Bridget was referring to this forum specifically, where Lively got a rash of sh*t.
I realize that this site and Jezebel are kind of microcosms, and not necessarily reflective of people as a whole. But within that, as Kitten said she’s gotten a ton of sh$t.
It was her defense of and admiration for Woody Allen that got my ire. This little nobody that was what on Gossip Girl, so relevant. Whatever she does now to take away from her ignorance just adds to it. I’d suggest she have a seat somewhere and shut up. Too mean?
You’ve grossly oversimplify the reason people took issue with this.
Do I think Barely Lively posted this with ill intent? No, I just think she’s not very bright. But to say people “are just looking for something to be outraged at”, you are talking about a majority of black women who historically have been shamed and fetishized for our bodies.
So I understand why people took issue with this and it’s their right to do so.
I want to preface this by saying my comment isn’t directed towards you personally, Marty, just a general observation.
I think the issue of how WoC are perceived in terms of our collective beauty standard is important and worthy of discussion, don’t get me wrong. But the fact that the conversation was precipitated by a Blake Lively IG post is what is being called into question.
It seems like discussions around here always devolve into a (metaphorically) black and white interpretation that I find incredibly frustrating. I come to this forum for the side-discussions but I so often find myself really discouraged by the inevitable eruption of binary arguments.
IMO making Lively a scapegoat or immediately characterizing her perfunctory comments as racist serves to simplify what could be a nuanced and interesting discussion.
Then again, would we even be talking about this if Lively hadn’t made a silly comment? Maybe it’s just good that we’re talking about it, regardless of how the topic is raised.
Eh.
@Kitten –
I completely agree with you.
But I’ll say let it wash over you on this one.
As you, I, Erinn and some others have already said it’s open season……… and worse, you’ll only exhaust yourself for the weekend!!!!!!
@Jegede-TGIF right? Plus this means we can start in on Cocktail Hour at 3PM 🙂
Was I personally offended by her post? No. And I am one of those people who have been shamed for the size of my ass by white women.
And maybe I wouldn’t care so much if Blake hadn’t shown racial insensitivity in the past with her actions, but she has. So why can’t people call her on her bs?
If people feel like this is nothing to get worked up over, that’s fine. But I’m also not about to dismiss the valid criticism she’s getting either.
@Marty – I agree that people have the right to take issue with BL’s post. It has started an important conversation. However, now that this is being discussed, I don’t understand why BL is taking so much heat while the song itself doesn’t seem to be taken to task at all. This song can be viewed as the anthem of fetishizing African American women’s bodies. If it’s not okay for BL to use a quote from the song, why was it okay for SMA to write and perform this song? I understand Blake is a white woman and doesn’t understand the issues black woman face with body perception. I get that. But, how would SMA have any understanding of it as a male?
I ask the question as an African American woman who finds it damaging to all women to have a man ripping apart certain body types while celebrating others. Shouldn’t that be the issue?
I agree with Kitten. Do I think that Blake has gotten some valid criticism previously? Yes. But do I think it’s gone way overboard in relation to the actual size of her transgressions? Yes. And I think that we’re putting a lot more responsibility on her and judging her more harshly because people dislike her and she’s an easy target. It was a silly comment on an Instagram post quoting one of the most popular songs of all time.
I am a white woman with an honest to goodness Oakland booty. While men never disapproved, it wasn’t until JLo hit the scene that women started asking me about how I got such a sculpted butt. After years of being embarrassed by my big booty, I now wish I had the girls to match! 🙂
Kathleen over at Lainey gossip wrote some great posts on the subject yesterday and today. Definitely worth a look if you want to understand it better.
She definitely composes her thoughts a lot better than I do.
@Kitten, +1. Typed out a long post and got tired of it. Suffice it to say, I think it’s great that there’s a lot of popular discourse around race–but I think it gets conflated with a lot of other issues that aren’t limited to race/attached to white majority culture at all. I’m getting outrage fatigue.
@Marty, I think Kathleen is still finding her footing. Take today’s post: she claims Vogue attributed the big booty trend to white women. Read the article; sure didn’t seem that way to me. Kathleen says Blake is a conversation about cultural appropriation. ORLY? Sir Mix-A-Lot says he wanted beauty standards within the black community to go mainstream. Looks to me like two sides of the same coin.
@GreenieWeenie – the Vogue article does specifically attribute the current trendiness of big butts to Kim Kardashian, who, well, isn’t black. And the social media trend is attributed to instagrammer Jen Selter, who also – you guessed it – isn’t black.
The current-day WOC and especially black women who are mentioned in the butt article as celebrating their bottoms (Rihanna, even OG Bootylicious-writer Beyonce!) are all presented as if they’re following a trend set by white women.
The best part about this? Take a look at the video again. You see black women “twerking” 25 years ago. So, no. It didn’t start with Mikey, though it mattered in the media when she did it. Such is The American Sickness.
–TheRealPinky
Edit
I said on previous post that I don’t think Blake was trying to be racist. I criticized her for the lie. She does not have a large ass, just a wide one. And she really doesn’t have an LA face, even though she paid for it.
Now if Jessica Biel had said the exact same thing I would be on board. But then again, Biel didn’t expose her love of the Antebellum period or got married on a Plantation or defended a pedophile. So, maybe it’s just a combination of things with Blake and people have grown tired of the defense of well, she’s not that bright.
So this is important? This is the only thing that she has done that pissed people off so much, they attacked her on social media.
Yet, she just said a pedophile was “empowering to women”
But no people care about some corny women quoting a song.
Actually Blake received 10 times more criticism on-line for her defense of Woody Allen than for this. The media CHOSES what to cover and the Woody Allen stories don’t get as many clicks as a superficial celebrity story which only requires 10 people on the Internet to complain about. I saw more LOL’s about Blake’s butt tweet than outrage. So again the media decided which twist would get more clicks.
I have a Devon booty. So far as I know, it has never appeared on camera. For which, I am sure, Devon is most grateful.
I’m sure both your booty and Devon are lovely.
Ha. Well, Devon is. I never look at mine to know but I dare say lovely is as lovely does!
I have to read the comments on posts like this (see below) to actually understand what it all means because all the cultural references go over my head. But the odd self-deprecating joke never hurts, right?
Baby Got Back was the anthem at every frat party from 1992-2002.
I think if she just posted the picture of her butt with “Baby Got Back” it would be one thing since that song and phrase is totally a part of the national culture, but she quoted a line that has obvious racial overtones. I don’t think it is “racist” in the classical sense, since she is praising it, but oblivious to the offense she might cause by conveniently claiming an “Oakland booty” without having to deal with the whole picture of being black, growing up in Oakland, etc.
She didn’t think about the sociopolitical aspects of that lyric because she’s Blake Lively.
We really need to stop expecting her to dig deep because she’s clearly not that kind of person. In her mind she was innocently quoting a song, that’s it. No further thought processes were applied.
It might seem like I’m giving her a pass (and I guess I am in a way) but it’s becoming an exhausting exercise in futility to assume that Lively will view everyone and everything in her life through the same reflective, introspective lens as you or I would.
She’s just not that and she will never be that. She lives in an insular world and makes it a point to stay on the surface of things.
I have friends like her and I bet you do too. They’re not terrible people but they’re not wired in a way as to be inner-directed so I don’t have the same expectations of them as I would some of my other friends.
I think we need to stop trying to put a square peg in a round hole and just let Blake Lively be Blake Lively, simple Becky that she is.
I get what you are saying but again nobody else over the age of 21 gets this allowance. Hell, the Pinkett Smith kids are well under 21, dont say or do anything even half as offensive as her and THEY dont get allowances made. I dont think its unreasonable to expect someone with her platform to grow a brain and some human decency before setting forth.
Look I see what you’re saying Kitten and I’ll reiterate what I said above, I don’t think she did this with any ill will but that also doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be called out. Saying ‘well she’s not very bright and doesn’t think of those types of things’ is a cop out.
In ignorance comes inconsideration. She’s already got married on a plantation, praised the Antebellum period, and now this. So when is it ok for her to finally learn? I’m not expecting for her to start quoting James Baldwin, but the least she could do is learn how to stay in her lane.
This is what I feel, too.
We ALL have friends or relatives like that. Some of us ARE like that without realizing it. It’s just that in the ‘real’ world these things aren’t displayed for millions of viewers, and nobody gets called out like a celebrity would.
I’m sure that not a single one of us have said something ridiculous, or thoughtless over the years while genuinely not realizing. I know I have.
There’s a certain point where we need to stop expecting celebrities to be the beacons of thoughtful, intelligent, introspective thought. They’re celebrities. We don’t expect it from the person pumping our gas, or the nurse helping patients. We expect them to do their jobs, and act professionally – but we don’t expect them to constantly be spouting helpful truths, or deep quotes.
Does Blake deserve to be criticized? Yes. But does she frothing at the mouth kind of hate? No, not really. Correct and move on.
I’m all for political correctness, and for kindly correcting people who say things they shouldn’t. But at a certain point we have to start looking at ourselves and wondering why we care so much about celebrities and the dumb day to day things they do. WHY do we expect them all to have a platform to share, and why do so many people look up to or admire them. It’s a problem that’s much larger than the Blake’s of the world. Always question things, always offer fair criticism, but stop expecting them to be anything other than what they are. If we’re going to call them out, we need to start calling out the MASSES of ‘regular’ people who do the exact same things. How many regular people get married on plantations, or adopt black culture in an offensive way? How rarely are they called out. How much of a difference could be made if we started to call out the every day joe for doing these stupid things? They’re the ones that are the staple clients of plantation venues.
@Naya–I hear you guys. I replied to your comment up-thread, Marty.
Maybe I should just stay in my own lane too. The thing is, I totally understand the issues that have been raised, I just don’t really get why Lively who is rather clueless and bland is the sacrificial lamb (pardon the hyperbole).
It just kind of bums me out that we can’t have an open discussion about this without having it deteriorate. It sucks that if you’re neither here nor there on a celebrity you’re backed into a corner and forced to pick a side.
Oh well.
@Erinn-Not surprisingly, you elaborated on my viewpoint perfectly and more succinctly than I could have.
I agree. And I don’t think calling her out is ever going to change her. She’s probably just mystified and even the most well worded explanation would be met with, “but that’s not what I meant!” and a blank look.
It’s not wrong to point out that she’s missing the point, but don’t bother trying to bring her attention to it. It’s a teachable moment for other people, perhaps, but don’t expect anything different out of her. She’s just not that bright and has no intention of changing.
@Wren-Exactly. To me, considering the intellectual capacity of the messenger is just being objective and fair. Beyond that, it’s a necessary component to understanding anything: context, WHO is saying it, etc.
But to others, it’s seen as a free pass or excusing/condoning their behavior.
I get it, but it still sucks.
I understand the instinct to write Blake off, it’s the excuses that I can’t get behind. Are there bigger race problems to address then a stupid IG post? Of course there are. That doesn’t mean you get excused for it.
Look, I’ve had this problem with Miley Cyrus too. People making excuses for her when she was literally making fun of black bodies. Are there larger issues at play? Yes. But it’s this acceptance we have as a society to embrace black culture but not black people. If you engage in one, but then go and dismiss the other, you are feeding into the problem.
Microagressions hurt us just as much as any racial slur would.
@Marty-I agree with everything you said except I don’t see anyone dismissing the larger discussion here. I don’t see people excusing Blake, but rather seeing her for who she really is. I think you can say that someone is racially insensitive but not a racist and someone can be ignorant without malicious intent. None of those qualities are inherently contradictory, rather just human nature.
I get that we don’t owe these celebrities the same level of acceptance/understanding/impartiality that we extend to our friends/family/etc but if I judged my friends as harshly as we judge celebs, I wouldn’t have any friends left.
There are people in this thread calling this an overreaction and not ‘getting what the big deal is’, but I was talking about the general dismissive attitude that comes when black people respond to this kind of thing.
I correct anyone who does this, friends, family, boyfriend. Maybe they won’t learn, maybe they won’t care but at least I won’t have to swallow these sort of things just because they seem insignificant to other people.
How else do people learn that
regardless of intentions, words and actions have consequences?
Marty, you’re quite right. However, there’s only so much you can do with stupid and stubborn. Some people will never learn no matter what; they will continue to see their words or actions as perfectly fine and nothing will change it. The more you try to point out their mistakes the more they feel that it is you who don’t get it and you who don’t understand. Consequences will only be seen as others being mean and unfair. Perhaps they will shut up but you’ll never change their minds, and eventually they’ll just do it all over again because they don’t learn.
All we can do is use her and people like her as examples of how easy it is to be wrong and hurtful even if you never meant to be. Trying to teach her the same lesson would be fruitless, but again, there’s only so much you can do with stupid.
The point that both Kitten and I have been making isn’t that people don’t have the right to be offended – though are folks actually offended at her comment or just the fact that she’s totally tone deaf? Rather, the point is that Basic Girl made a questionable Instagram post. Does she deserve to have people point out what her comment actually means? Sure. But does it also have to be epic, scathing condemnation? That part I disagree with. It’s the difference between malice and ignorance.
Off topic but for the past 2-3 days I’ve been getting unwillingly sent to the app store whenever I click on a post here. 3 times on this article alone.
1. Her side profile reveals no ‘Oakland Booty’, just a very long back.
2. Learn to read between the lines and see what’s not being said. She can love any part of her she wants to, but the fact that a woman who CHOSE to have her wedding on a slave plantation but then wants to be all adorbz and reference a black love 80’s rap lyric doesn’t deserve kid gloves and pillows.
3. There’s a lot of love for black material and items but not a love given to actual black artists and properties. I don’t think Blake is racist as she is blindingly simple. She lives in a very simple happy bubble of defending rapists but then claiming she thinks calling them out through humor is inappropriate. Where she can have her wedding where slaves were raped and whipped but then bust out some super cool rap reference and where a chick with no ass-at-all can feel like she has a donk because that’s cool now right? That’s the ‘in’ thing?
Not a racist. Just a complete f’ing idiot!!!
I mean I’m a white woman from Oakland so…
me too girl
Even Sir Mix-A-Lot doesn’t get it. Either that or he’s enjoying being relevant and getting white lady attention.
Do note that he is not woman, let alone a black woman.
He is not the last word here, despite it being his song. Or even because of it.
+1
Meant to post this a long time ago, but I love your new icon Almondjoy! So pretty!
Thanks so much, Marty!! ❤️
Thank you. It’s not like he cares about women’s self esteem.
can she go away oh gosh like who even likes her besides harvey weinstein and ryan reynolds lol
those are her bought fake followers every celeb does it lol
And this is what happens when a man tries to “help” women to feel empowered. They usually fail because they can’t see past their sexist lenses. In my fb page, one of the guys made a poem that was supposed to be a homage to women, based on a model’s photoshoped picture (!). As expected, it was all “we highly praise your boobs, butts, thighs…” And some women were clapping. I still cringe when I remmember.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Damn. Maybe I just don’t get it and am a closeted racist or something, but I’m not seeing the huge deal here? She quoted a song that has been so woven into pop- culture and has been parodied to the point of exhaustion ( um…fast food commercial, anyone?) that any statement behind it is now associated to those things. She can be exposed to it over the majority of her lifetime and not be able to use it? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
It’s not a huge deal. It’s an overreaction.
Ever, I agree with you completely! As a black woman I find it exhausting that everyone claims everything as racist. If a black woman said it, would that be okay? In case people haven’t noticed, all women of all colors come in all shapes and sizes. Do only black people live in Oakland? Can only a black women be proud of her butt? Can only a black women sing this song? I hope she doesn’t take down that post, because there is nothing wrong with it.
same here. I haven’t wanted to dive into any of these waters because I just don’t feel the outrage. and I’m a black woman too, so I feel like this is one of those subjects society wants me to rage about. I just can’t. blake’s booty looks great in that dress! red beans and rice didn’t miss her.
Man, I get you. The racial stereotypes are tiring. White woman flat butt, black woman huge butt… Plus, the anxiety of expectation? So if you’re a black woman with no butt… Then what? It haunts you all your life?
Why can’t women just BE… It’s all so exhausting.
When I’m in a conspiracy mood, I wonder if the media is a male driven menace that wants us to pour so much energy into ripping apart our appearance do we won’t have time to do other sh*t. Paranoid?
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you…….
Actually that’s a pretty common theory. Maybe not as extreme as you state but some believe that keeping women focused on our appearance and trained to compete with other women over it (to win what, exactly?) holds us back and keeps us distracted. Dieting really is the ultimate control. A distracted and slightly malnourished population is a submissive population.
OMG, thank you so much for stating like it is!
@Samantha, I love your post
Americans are so weird about race. In Europe this statement wouldn’t even cause a ripple. No, it is not a racist statement.
To us, Europe is weird about race.
SEE: the #oscarssolwhite statements from Europeans actors.
Nice that you can speak for all of Europe. For every single person on the continent.
I’m going to guess you’re white?
I only ask because most European POC say Europe has very significant problems with race, the only times I see someone brushing it off is a white individual who believes racism only exists in America.
+1 TES-E and AlmondJoy
A few days ago, two black women were not allowed to enter a club in London for a sony experia event but they let in white people in. It has happened a lot before. Maybe you’ve never heard of it but Racist is alive in Europe too.
In Europe it would certainly cause a ripple if you attribute a part of your body in a not-too-positive way to a certain ethnic group. Comments on somebody’s body like “nose like a gypsy / jew / …” would be considered a criminal offense (insult) and there is a fine. Also Europeans would probably not openly talk with expressions like “trailer trash” as some Americans do in public. (Aguilera said that: “I know Britney,” Aguilera told Us at the time. “She’s not trailer trash, but she sure acts that way.”)
As for other things Europeans don’t tie themselves in knots where US-Americans do that. There are usually no quotas for ethnic minorities in universities. There are jokes about ethnicities or skin colour or Hitler. #Charlie Hebdo was an example for that. Though such jokes are not at work and not at public functions but pretty much anywhere else.
A German Politician (Sarrazin) compared Germans to Arabian horses and Turkish people to farm horses and said they shouldn’t breed and some other crude stuff. He got a lot of flack for that and deservedly so. So yes, there are racists in Europe and I would say it is hardly as bad as in the USA. GB has a lot of racist streaks as they are a former colonial power.
@ Taiss
It would be interesting to know why they weren’t let in. Clubs have clothing policies and such and there are lots of white folks who don’t get in either.
^^Negative, shipmate. I know it’s way late so you won’t see this, but I’m gonna respond anyway…this is CLASSIC European hypocrisy. CLASSIC. You think because you’re careful with your speech, because you dance around the issues of race, that you’re somehow not racist. The Brits like to tout the fact that they outlawed the Atlantic slave trade so they can’t be racist. The French are all about egalite, so they can’t be racist.
No, you are just lying to yourselves. The US has a history that makes lying about their own racism impossible. So they don’t even try. Compared to Europe, Americans speak very openly and frankly about race. But show me a black Francois Hollande. Show me a black Angela Merkel. Show me a black ANYBODY with a powerful title in the UK. No? Well it looks like you’ve still got a few problems with race after all. It’s only by being open and confrontational and willing to take those systemic steps that you get to where the United States is–so dial back into this discussion when you’re there.
I don’t think Dingding was trying to imply there weren’t any social issues. She was just saying that race, specifically race, isn’t as big or defining a trigger.
Europeans are mostly xenophobic, and sometimes that can tie in with racial aspects too, because people of different countries can look different too. But cultural differences are the real source of tension.
It’s normal that Americans and Europeans see things differently; they are different places. I think it’s a perspective thing. Will an American ever truly understand why there are such strifes in the Balkans? Or amongst Ucranians and Russians? Why Luxembourg even exists as a State? Probably not. It’s a nation of immigrants – so perhaps cultural differences are a given and dont carry the same nuances. Most Americans probably dont understand what all these “secessionist”movements in Europe mean, like damn, are Scotts and English people really that different?
Do Europeans understand the complexities of racial issues in America? Probably not. Most Europeans find it bizarre that people with such a similar cultural background, who speak the same language, same religion, and are of the same socio-economic background consider themselves parts of different communities because of skin colour. I myself have always wondered why mixed marriages are so rare in the US.
History has made both societies evolve in different ways, and is key to understanding any society. I dont think you can, at this point, project one onto another.
I can’t comment on all of Europe but I am sick to death of European shock w/r/t “racist” Americans because Americans speak more openly about race. When European countries start showing evidence that they have removed the institutional and cultural barriers to permit someone who isn’t white or a cultural insider to rise to the top of their political system, then I’ll start taking European claims to less racism more seriously.
I get what you are saying about cultural differences being more definitive in Europe, but I disagree at least for France. I also think the ideal of multiculturalism lends itself to thinking “color-blindness” is the solution to racism. In the US, which prefers assimilation to multiculturalism, “color-blindness” is a political strategy to perpetuate racism. So the conversation in the US must be a little more complex.
One last example of something I cannot stand: European behavior at football matches. I see people throwing bananas at black players and what happens? Everyone simply agrees to keep on playing. If that happened in the most popular sports league in the US, I would bet money that the entire team would refuse to play. For a recent example, see Univ of Missouri players. Their football team–white & black players who could lose their scholarship and a chance to go pro–is willing to oppose racism in a way that big expensive European football leagues won’t.
To me, this is a metaphor for a lot of the differences around the treatment of race in the US vs Europe/UK. Maybe you all need the “hate speech” legislation because you have yet to address the systemic issues that might remove hate speech more naturally from the public sphere. Somehow Americans made the n-word obsolete in public life without ever legislating a thing. I don’t expect Europeans to understand race in America but I often find European understanding of race in Europe to be dishonest.
Well, I’m British and, by and large, I agree with GreenieWeenie. Things *are* slightly different in Europe and within Europe for that matter. But it’s slight. Racism and prejudice are alive and well and it’s no good to pretend that they aren’t, simply because the cultural norms express racism in slightly different ways. Structural racism comes in different flavours depending on where and how it manifests and is discussed, but it’s still structural racism. Saying “you Americans this” and “you Americans that” is just a deflection from and way to avoid looking at our own problems.
GreenieWeenie – if you scroll through the articles and topics on this prominent BAME UK website, I don’t think you’ll find the conversations and issues very much different to the ones you have in the US and on here. http://mediadiversified.org/
Well she does have an “LA” face (after her nose job that is).
Hmm I am removed from this not living (or having grown up somewhere) with a black population at all but I’ll throw my two cents in anyway 🙂
That song was released at a time where big butts wasn’t celebrated as it is now. By extension, black bodies in general were not being celebrated. It’s all well and good to have trends and fashion but there isn’t anything someone can do to shrink their arse if it isn’t in fashion.
It made sense for the song to be a bit of an anthem for celebrating other bodies types than what was in fashion magazines which also served as a celebration of women of colour. Doesn’t mean all WoC are curvy or no white women are curvy or anything like that. We’re speaking generally.
By contrast, we now are in a time when this body part IS celebrated and ‘throw backs’ are very popular. I see it as Blake making a joke that in that photo she looks much curvier buttly than she usually does and giving a fun 90s throwback at the same time. I don’t think there’s a negative racial tone from LA face Oakland booty… what is an LA face? Sir Mix Alot already wrote that line – Blake didn’t make it up. If she said “lol at my big black fat arse”, now that would be wrong.
Her butt is practically flat as a pancake from the side, so no, she does not have an Oakland booty.
Blake is tone deaf and there is a racial element (which I think she didn’t even realize) but this was also an incredible overreaction. I also read Sir Mix a Lot’s explanation of the lyric which is always how I interpreted it too—that there were black women with a L.A. face, aka a “model and or actress” face, with a big booty and that they were beautiful. It’s more than saying white face/black booty.
I do have a white friend who used this term once or twice (sometimes to my face) and I gently told her why it could be considered offensive.
@ Div
Spot on!
Well, Blake is good at self-advertising. And if you want to know just how good she is then look at this comment section which bothers to talk about her booty and how fat her booty is and if it is shapely / roundly or rather flat.
She should have married The Donald.
I’m late to this discussion, I had to look up oakland booty to find out what it meant and it means ‘bootyliscious’. I hope I spelled that correctly.
I personally thought Blake was just commenting on how she sees her body and she seems very proud of it. But wow, I’m shocked at how angry everyone seems about this comment. I just don’t believe it was her intention to offend. If it was her intention, then of course its not acceptable. I think she didn’t phrase her words properly and now is getting backlash for it.
Cracking up that people are actually trying to analyze and interpret Baby Got Back.
@Greenieweenie- YES on the outrage fatigue!!!!!!!!!
what is she going to do next to keep herself (laughably) relevant?
this is all she has because in no way is she exceptional. therefore no attention for Blake until what, another gala in 12 months or she conjures a baby (oh wait! make that 7 months) or a role (prospects look to be nil here) or, she can keep yapping and gaffing and get what little she can to scrape by on.
poor blake. even SMA’s take was a bust (“it ain’t horrible”) so even all this attention, negative attention, is all she can scrounge up.
goop 2.0