One of the funniest and dumbest controversies Blake Lively got embroiled in this year was her Instagram post declaring that she had an “LA Face and an Oakland booty.” Which is a line from Sir Mix-a-Lot’s ode-to-butt “Baby Got Back.” Blake posted a photo of her booty from Cannes and even though everybody lost their minds about it, she never took down the Instagram. Meaning, she still believes it. I kind of like that she didn’t remove the Instagram, because of all of the issues people have with Blake, the fact that she thinks she has an “Oakland booty” doesn’t even make the top ten. So now that Blake is promoting The Shallows this week, she’s finally answering some questions about her so-called Oakland Booty.
“It’s something I was proud of. I never meant to offend anyone. But Sir Mix-A-Lot, he actually said a very nice thing, he was very defensive and kind, because it’s just about celebrating women’s bodies, and that’s what I was doing,” she told Sway Calloway on Shade 45. “I would never want to hurt anyone’s feelings or upset anyone.”
The actress continued, “I was celebrating my body. It’s nice to have a nice curve and not look like you’re starving to death.”
“It’s also unfair what you see in the media so much. What I look like on a red carpet is not what I look like in real life,” she admitted on Sway in the Morning. “Even in that dress, I’m wearing a great, tiny corset that like someone has synched me in within an inch of my life and it’s the most favorable version. So when you look at yourself in the mirror at home and you don’t look like that, you think ‘well why do those people look like that’ but when I go home and take off that dress and look in the mirror, I don’t look like that either,” she added. “It’s fun to dress up and look good on the red carpet but it’s not representative [of everyday].”
I had to include that last part because Blake was really feeling sorry for herself because she hates that she presents such a glamorous and flawless image and it’s just so unfair that she’s so beautiful on red carpets, you guys! She’s just totally normal in real life, don’t hate her because she’s beautiful on the red carpet! As for the Oakland booty stuff… I don’t think she meant to offend anyone. She really didn’t. Just like she didn’t intend to offend anyone with her Allure of Antebellum post, nor did she intend to offend anyone by defending Woody Allen. She just falls Oakland-booty backwards into these controversies because she’s really that daft and tone-deaf.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
I thought the controversy was pretty dumb too. She DID have a big butt in the picture so I see no problem with her caption!
Same here. That controversy was WAY overblown.
Agreed.
She was probably grateful for some pregnancy weight there for the first (and last!) time. Sway was sympathetic to her in this interview and Blake seemed to be downplaying herself, rather than looking to stoke any fires.
*Kanye shrug*
@Lannister No, she had a wide butt, not big. She’s so proud of her curves but I’m willing to bet you that after she has the baby she goes back to her Hollywood approved skinny frame.
Yep. I don’t buy her positive body talk for a minute. And her ass was not big.
Except we do know what she looks like at home & in front of the mirror because she’s all over tv in a bikini for The Shallows 👙
Alright then, could you kindly define “Oakland booty” for me?
Oakland booty: round and high. Think tennis ball
Blake’s booty: flat and low-riding.think Apple
she looks good in the blue dress.. but I don’t like the dress. The shoes are a good addition. Something different. I really don’t like the fit of the last dress nor the shoes. I know she is pregnant; but the dress looks ill fitted. And the bottom hem bothers me.
Is Blake the only person in the movie. I haven’t seen anyone else promoting.
She pretty much IS the movie. There are only a few castmembers
Can she stop talking? There is no need for anyone to broadcast their every last little thought for the entire world to hear. Really there isn’t. What is wrong is not her booty, what is wrong is she thinks she’s way more … than she actually is.
Feel free to fill in… I will start with funny.
Grace – I’m with you. And because I’m in a bad mood here are my mean thoughts for what they’re worth.. I agree she’s tone deaf and not too bright. Provincial too. And not as pretty as she thinks she is. And she needs a stylist – she often looks one foot in the trailer park to me. Ok, that’s enough. Going to have a coffee and eventually feel guilty for being mean. 🙄
I don’t get the hate for Blake…she is harmless! And, I get what she is saying…when she is on the red carpet, she is wearing designer clothes, has had professional hair and makeup done. She probably goes home, washes her face, takes her bra off and “sighs” just like the rest of us!!!
I don’t hate her. I think she puts her foot in her mouth fairly often and then is honestly puzzled as to why, but I don’t think she is deliberately unkind or thoughtless. There’s a line in House of Mirth – “…and it did not take her long to learn that a beauty needs more tact than the possessor of an average set of features.” I think Blake wants to be one of the girls, but her remarks fall flat because she has lived her life in such a bubble. She offends without understanding why, and she needs to grow a little.
Yes, I don’t mind her either. She really doesn’t seem bad.
She’s in need of an education, but she’s not the only hollywood moron out there.
Overall, she’s just a harmless neuron.
-Snazzy
Sweet GNAT: Thank you for your words of wisdom. I’m not going to let bullies keep me away from what I enjoy. @Snowflake, you’re the bomb…..I read your post last night and you were so sweet. Love you positive ladies. So Miss Blake…my problem with her goes back to her defending Woody Allen. But it’s her right to have her own beliefs. I learned quite a few lessons yesterday. Life is good.
Yay! Nancy, I’m so glad. We have all had days on here that we felt attacked. Thankfully, the vast majority of days are fun and funny and thoughtful. Hugs to you. 🙋🏼
And yeah, the Woody Allen thing is impossible to ignore. This might be a bad way to think of it, but I feel less hostile towards someone who just doesn’t get it than I do someone who gets it but puts it aside for their own selfish reasons. Less hostile, not friendly, though. She needs to educate herself and grow up a lot.
“I think Blake wants to be one of the girls, but her remarks fall flat because she has lived her life in such a bubble. She offends without understanding why, and she needs to grow a little.”
THIS. This is everything she is in a nutshell.
Thank you GNAT, exactly. I don’t think Blake is intentionally offensive I just think she’s very dim and naive. That being said, as I get older I find myself unable to brush off people’s ignorance by saying “well they probably didn’t mean anything by it, that’s just the way they are”. If we are going to try and educate people on their ignorance, we need to do it in all the forms it comes in.
I agree. She could use a little growth and depth, but whatever. She’s not mean spirited, she’s just not too bright. The fact that people read so much into her words is pretty amusing.
Her response was pretty much exactly as I predicted. “But that’s not what I meant!” *blank stare*
I know. But she could read some books, watch the news and take some history classes. Because she is pretty and rich, she chooses not to. The result is, she says really dumb offensesive stuff. And than her feelings are hurt because she meant no harm. And she probably didn’t mean any harm. But she still will not read, watch the news or take history classes. So she doesn’t understand the world we live in now, outside her very small limited one, and will continue to say foolish things. It is her choice not to learn about the world around her. She is 30 I believe? That is a long time to live in the world without knowing anything about American or world history, current history, or how difficult the world is for most people. But that is Blakes choice.
Blake’s not terribly liked around here, so the negativity is to be expected. I personally like what she said. She’s telling anybody who thinks she looks beautiful and glamorous and unattainable that that isn’t really her and she needs loads of help getting there. I really don’t understand why someone would have an issue with that comment.
EDIT:: My comment was in reply to someone whose post has been deleted.
Same. I interpreted the interview in the same way as u.
Yeah I thought she tried here.
I always get the impression that she’s probably a pretty sweet and gracious person, but just very out-of-touch. As I’ve said before, I don’t think she’s the type to dig too deep, but rather stays on the surface of things. That doesn’t absolve her blme for some of the ignorant comments she’s made in the past, but it does help me to understand how she made them in the first place.
*absolve her of blame.
Kitten-Boone Hall brings back memories. We spent summers in SC as kids. My uncle lived there. We went to Charleston and Boone Hall. My mom told us it was the house used as a model for “Gone With The Wind”, and that we were going to see the real thing. Of course, being 9 I knew about slavery, the Civil War. But it wasn’t until they took us to the “Slave Quarters” that it really sank in. I refused to go into them. It felt wrong. I went and sat on a tree stump. Yes, the house was lovely, but..I still remember how bad it felt. As for Blake-I never liked her, and never will. Did she mean to offend? Doubt it. But I’m guessing she will never understand that she did.
@ Kri-See, that’s what I don’t get. I’ve never been married but the location that one chooses for their wedding is such a BFD, you know? It’s symbolic, reverential, and should be meaningful to yourself, your partner, the union that’s about to take place.
How does one look at a slave plantation and think that it fulfills all of the aforementioned requirements..?
I mean, just based on your description of how it FELT to be near the slave quarters. I imagine it would be similar to how I felt the couple of times I was in the catacombs in Paris…creepy and all my arm hair standing on end. Who the f*ck wants to get married around that? It’s just strange to me….
I’ll add many African American as well as White get married or hold events on plantations or other places with terrible histories. Sadly that’s pretty much ALL of the South.
JFK Jr got married on slave grounds. In a church built by slaves.
They don’t do it because they are harking back for slavery, or are wishing to bring back servitude. It’s for simpler reasons like scenery, history, or even copying movie settings like “The Notebook”. And not because they harbour racist intentions
But again *Kanye shrug*
I hope The Shallows is good
Yeah I agree that people likely chose the plantation for the superficial reasons you stated above. Still, that’s privilege, no? Being able to divorce yourself entirely from the atrocities that likely occurred on a southern plantation so that you can enjoy your wedding.
I put the link to Boone Hall in my comment below.
Looking at the website, I’m of two minds: yes on a purely aesthetic level it is a gorgeous place. But the pics of white people spread across the plantation grounds, all dressed up and eating fancy food, trotting around on horse drawn carriages and whatnot….it’s kinda icky.
I agree with you. But almost every site/building in the South has an unpleasant history.
And again African American couples have gotten married on these sites too, and I doubt they do this from a place of privilege . Kennedy/Bessette wedding was held in Georgia, in a place of ugly history. And the Kennedys are NOT clueless in the talk of racial injustice and politics so I doubt they were trying to venerate slavery. My point is you hold anything in the South there will likely be an ugly backstory to it. It does not mean Blake/Carolyn or anyone harkens for slavery. This is our history. As with a few European nations. But we learn from these backstories and forge on or just burn down the buildings/land. Anyway we all interpret things differently.
Misti- Just don’t. I really hate that every time a white person does something sh*tty in regards to race someone comes in with a “well black people do this too”.
I.do.not.care.
No one should get married where people were raped, tortured, and killed. You don’t see people go to Wounded Knee and say “gee, this looks like a great wedding spot”. It’s disrespectful period.
I was not implying that Marty.
My bringing up that a myriad of couples of different races get married there, (and even using the Kennedy example), was that maybe lessons have been learnt in this context and sides are building some thing towards it, while never forgetting the past.
But this is veering into something else now, so I’m out of this post.
Actually you did Misti, you used “African Americans” TWICE as examples in your defense of Blake.
And if your intention was to say ‘yeah we have a really crappy past here in the South, but we should all strive to learn and do better’ then that’s exactly what you should have said. Not write two comments in the defense of others stupidity.
My intention was to say more than the quotes you attributed to me. And yes, I said that exactly and then some.
You can stop trying to sell me on these weak justifications Misti, I’m not buying them today.
“They don’t do it because they are harking back for slavery, or are wishing to bring back servitude.” >>>> I don’t think anyone is arguing that people are trying to reference slavery in particular, but it will always be weird to me that someone can see a plantation and disconnect it from slavery SO MUCH that they choose to have a celebratory event there. I’ve seen plantations and thought that they were absolutely stunning, admired the beauty, but couldn’t move past the word “plantation.” That instantly brings up a particular era and scene in my mind.
That’s how I feel about Blake’s Preserve “antebellum South” post, or anyone that likes that era. I don’t know how anyone can disassociate that time period with the horrible atrocities that were happening on a DAILY basis. Personally, I think that’s what the issue was/is: the disassociation / disconnect.
Gosh, how many gorgeous historical sites would we have to rule out just because atrocities happened there? It’s not like the South is unique in that. It’s not like plantations are unique in that. How many churches, castles, ruins, temples, pyramids, etc, throughout the world involved slave labor or massacres or torture or worse?
It may not be something that you personally are comfortable with (as is your every right) but people can choose to appreciate the beauty of these old houses , sadly recognizing and not endorsing that this beauty came at a horrible cost to innocent people.
@S- there is a BIG difference between appreciating a historical place/monument with a tragic history and using one as a backdrop for your own enjoyment.
Would you endorse people having weddings at former concentration camps just because the scenery was beautiful?
In my country, most great buildings/haciendas/archaeological sites were built under slavery or near slavery of natives, be it the colony or slavery by natives themselves. I believe for many historical places around the world the origin would be the same.
It would be a shame that theses sites get destructed. Maybe some of them hold more awful stories than others, but probably for the aesthetic itself they could be preserved. It also helps the economy. The visits as museums, or events create jobs, and in some places these are much needed jobs.
Hosting weddings and events raises money to preserve those places from falling into disrepair, keeping them for historical value and education and, yes, for the beauty of the architecture and decor. . People have weddings and events in castles that may have had dungeons, meadows where battles were fought, coliseums where slaves fought lions. Hotels and mansions built by robber barons. Hosting an event at one of those places absolutely does not endorse the crimes that were committed there 200 years ago.
I think she should hold on to that moment because it is the last time she will actually be relevant…her 15 minutes are over!
I think she’s harmless, with a killer figure and a great sense of style.
The “Oakland booty” controversy ultimately seemed pretty pointless to me, but this feels like her completely missing the point and showing once again that she lives in a world of clueless privilege. I don’t understand why she’s going on about body acceptance when the criticism wasn’t over her body. People were pointing out how black women are usually derided for having large butts while white women are fawned over for it and she completely sidestepped the issue to talk about her feelings about her body and her corset.
Missing the point seems to be her PR strategy. It keeps her from having to take responsibility for saying (somewhat innocuously) dumb sh!t and then get a pat on the back for defending the point she pivots to. She seems harmless and honestly rather sweet, maybe just the lady version of Jon Hamm’s character on 30 Rock.
Gosh she’s a bit of a clueless idiot…
Honestly, I think the blind spot here is yours because you like her. The writer is neutral and really didn’t say anything bad about her. She just listed the recent controversial and, in my opinion, clueless things Blake has said recently. You can’t deny that she said them. Maybe you think it’s fine to say you long for the days of slavery, but I think you’re alone there. You can like someone and disagree with some of their remarks. And the writer can have an opinion that’s different from yours and still be fair.
I’m gonna need you to point out where Blake said she ‘longed for the days of slavery.’ She did a post years ago on a now-defunct website admiring Southern charm, style, and manners and mentioned it all started with the Antebellum South. I don’t recall her ever saying that’s a time period we should strive to recreate. Yet another Blake controversy that was overblown.
It’s my recollection that she said something to the effect of “I wish I could have lived in the antebellum days, such a gracious, beautiful time period.” I could be wrong, but that’s what I recall. To me, you have to be very, very specific in conjuring up those images. You can say that you love the architecture, the dress or the accent, but you cannot say you love the lifestyle. The lifestyle was built on the bloody backs of an enslaved population, as I don’t need to tell you. Maybe I’m overly sensitive to it as a Southerner, but I can’t separate the images in my mind. Sweet Mammy bringing you your lemonade on the veranda was very likely torn from the arms of her screaming mother at age 5.
In this post, I was responding to a comment that was deleted that said the writers were anti-Blake. I was just trying to point out that some of her remarks were indefensible. In my opinion, this was one of them. Not that I think she’s a terrible person, just tone deaf and rather thoughtless.
@GNAT
I’m southern. I was born and raised in Alabama, and I still think you are reaching. Her Preserve article was ill-advised and she was taking a romantic view of a period that doesn’t need any romanticising, but you have accused her of longing for slavery. That is unkind at best.
@goats- you need to understand that your speaking from a place of privilege. Just because you don’t think the things Blake has done/said are offensive doesn’t mean they aren’t. If you disagree with people on this fine, but don’t be dismissive either.
@Goats
Saying you long for antebellum days IS saying you long for slavery. You can’t separate the pretty gowns and handsome, chivalrous men and the beautiful plantations from slavery. You can’t pick and chose which part of history to admire. Ill advised? Maybe to you. To other people, saying you long for a day when slavery was legal is a lot more than ill advised. It’s cruel and heartless and completely obliterates their place in the world as human beings. I’m sorry if you think I’m unkind for what I said, because I like you and respect your opinion, but I have to stand by what I said.
Marty and GNAT: I’m loving both your comments on this thread.
Well, ignorance is first and foremost an insult to its rightful owner, it is not directed to anyone specifically, so, yeah, she probably never wanted to offend.
Ignorance is bliss.
The Antebellum thing was awful but the Oakland booty thing was sort of tone deaf but wasn’t a big deal imo. The original song had an intro making fun of Beckys but I always read the particular line about the booty as someone being model beautiful but still retaining an as* (as in they didn’t starve themselves/celebrating their natural curves). Even Sir Mix a Lot said something along those lines…..
Not to get overly personal on the web but back in the day, at least where I grew up, the Oakland booty comment wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow, even if said by a white girl, unless it was said in racist context (and I don’t think Blake’s context was meant that way). Then again, 15 years ago my cousin’s white friend drove a junker we all called the ghetto-mobile (we’re black but our Latinx and white friends all said it too). Nowadays, that would be considered racist by a lot of people even though most of us are POC and our white friend would be dragged extra hard. Terminology changes and maybe Blake just wasn’t aware that the “booty” thing (which is a lot less controversial than ghetto) was no longer appropriate and would be considered tone deaf.
Yeah I stopped saying ghetto when a black friend pointed out how f*cked up it was. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t *get it* on my own.
So out of curiosity, I researched what plantation she got married on–it’s called Boone Hall. Firstly, I can’t imagine wanting to get married on a plantation and I think Antebellum South is scary as hell. But then again, I’m a northerner and plantations aren’t really the norm around here…
So this is the place (I guess weddings are common here?!?!) http://boonehallplantation.com/event_hosting.php
I don’t know…I had a friend who got married in a castle and I thought that was sort of weird. Even though castles are consistently romanticized in modern-day culture, they were sometimes scary, morbid and occasionally brutal and violent places back in their heyday.
Anyway, I’m rambling..not defending her on any level, but I’m just wondering aloud..
My SIL is almost 40 and still calls things ghetto. My niece repeated it the other day and I was like, nooo no no no no.
Yeah it hasn’t been ok to say in a long time. I’m glad you were there to set your niece straight 😉
I was pretty skeeved out by the pictures. Apparently, the original slave quarters are used as educational exhibits on slavery and emancipation, but that almost makes it worse to me that people then get married there. It’s right out there in the open that men, women, and children were treated as subhuman possessions, but you know, whatever. Time to throw the bouquet.
I thought she was going to stop talking….
Why is she corseted within an inch of her life while pregnant?
Thank you!! Blake’s priveledge is sad but I’m over hoping she educates herself. But wearing a tiny corset when you are pregnant? That can’t be doctor recommended.
Why do people care so much about what Blake Lively says I wonder..
I love that her fans’ go-to defence for all of her vapid cluelessness is that she’s ‘harmless’ or too stupid to understand the meaning of her words or actions.
Because she’s so tone-deaf and entitled that she literally did not see anything wrong with getting married on a plantation (on the cotton docks at that?), putting up a screed in praise of slavery-era aesthetics (imagine how the reaction would be if someone penned a similar paean to Nazi style) or defending a child molester. But yeah, she’s ‘harmless’, sure.
I’m not a fan, and I totally get what you’re saying, but I think there’s a difference between a basically nice but rather dim person and a deliberately cruel and racist person. It doesn’t mean the former is ok. She needs to learn and grow. But I think she’s young and not that smart and grew up with unchallenged ideas that hopefully she will be smacked out of.
Exactly. The difference between Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.
DUPLICATE POST – DELETED.
@Teacakes, I didn’t see your comment before I posted a similar one. +100 to everything you’ve said, it’s so ridiculous. She’s apparently too delicate a flower to ever be held accountable for anything she does or says. Seriously, she’s almost 30.
@Teacakes, I didn’t see your comment before I posted a similar one. +100 to your entire comment, it’s so ridiculous. She’s apparently too delicate a flower to ever be held accountable for anything she does or says. Seriously, she’s almost 30, people!
Yup, literally the only defense I’ve seen of her scrolling down.
So she’s too much of a moron to know that these well debated topics exist? Huzzah for her.
Argh, ironically everytime I find myself ambivalent to liking her I only have to remember how much fun and fancy free it is for her to skate through life as a pretty blonde white woman who can offend and dip into racial issues and then skip right back out untouched and unbothered.
I get your point, and it’s a good one. My only issue is with your assumption that she’s unbothered. I think it does bother and puzzle her. She just needs to use that to challenge her ideas. You’re right that I’m making excuses for her in a way, as are other people, because she seems not very smart. But I can also relate to her a little, because I am a completely different person now than I was at her age. I was a twit, actually. Everything had come pretty easily to me in life and I was married to a handsome, successful guy and I thought I had it going on. My opinions were shallow, my life was shallow and I was shallow. Then life pretty much said yeah, let’s see how special you are after your husband cheats on you and you can’t have children and he gets fired for being a drunk. Still think you’re special? There was more to come. My point is that I didn’t KNOW I was an a$$hole. I thought I was nice. I WAS nice, just shallow. And it took my world being shaken to its core for me to start reexamining who I was and what I wanted to be. So maybe that’s why I can be a little bit patient with her. Life comes to everyone, in different ways, and flattens them temporarily. I don’t wish her any harm, but she will inevitably have to start questioning things. I think maybe this is the first time that she has had people question her and her motives. Maybe it will serve as a catalyst. I am willing to give her another year or two to grow up, then I’ll join you in writing her off if she’s still this stupid.
I gotta say Gnat, you always come across as honest and thought provoking and your line about “I didn’t KNOW I was an a$$hole” gave me a chuckle.
I agree that this is probably the first time Lively’s been challenged in her life and in her quest to be relatable and funny she just shows how out of touch she is and it backfired on her. The only problem I have with her is I strongly suspect she’ll eternally be on the defensive without trying to do better.
For a celeb she’s already had a few massive or faux pas’s that another more compromising mind would have examined and tried to improve on. She on the other hand is still living in Barbie’s dream house and expecting us all to join her and Ken for tea.
I think you have changed my side-eye to more than that, though, after thinking about it. I don’t know why I’m trying so hard to excuse her.
But her fans are right. She IS stupid! LOL
Of course I don’t know this woman, but…. B.L. annoys me quite a bit. (Lots of people do- I’m easily annoyed.) Ol’ Blake especially, though- I don’t know why. She just rubs me the wrong way. If I had to work with her, I think I would spend much of my day actively avoiding her. The way she comes across is… just… off-putting to me. Having said that, I don’t think she was all “don’t hate me cuz you ain’t me” with what she said. I took it more like “NOBODY looks like this unless they have a herd of stylists and people to dress and paint them, so if you are a person looking at magazines and shit and seeing people who set the standard of beauty and you don’t fit that mold, don’t trip because nobody really does once all paint, shellac, and body-shaping underpinnings come off”.
Now I feel weird because I think I just defended Blake friggin Lively. I feel *dirty* and… ashamed? Is this what shame feels like?? EW.
I really don’t get why people are so bothered by Blake. I think she’s harmless, maybe a little dim but harmless.
Gad, I just can’t with this brainless twit. To me she may as well be the physical manifestation of white supremacy itself. I just can’t see her as harmless. She’s a complete imbecile, couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag, has no moral objection to working with a child molester, has the charisma of a wet mop…and yet, here she is. If her mediocrity weren’t packaged in whiteness, she wouldn’t have even the pitiful career she has now. Also the way some people infantilise her here is…interesting.
As for her Oakland booty comment, quite a few black women have explained pretty eloquently why her comments bothered them. Between her antebellum worship and getting married in a slave plantation, she has a history of racial insensitivity.
I’m with you on this one.
The day has barely started and I’m already tired, Almondjoy.
Yes, Marty. Full on exhaustion has set in. There seems to be no point in even explaining things anymore. People’s privilege will allow them to ignore everything you say and claim the issue is no big deal.
Preach!
Infantilise is spot on. Why should an almost 30 woman with 2 kids get a pass for being dim and naive?
Yes to everything.
spot on!
Somebody warn Blake her babies could end up with her old schnoz.
Sigh, STOP TALKING.
You want to preach body positivity with a lyric that puts up divides between LA faces and those Oakland booties. You want to defend The Woody Allen and then complain about how cruel a comedian skewering him is because it’s unpalatable to joke about such things (but not to work for such men). You want to have your wedding on a plantation.
You want all adoration and no questions and consequences and you’re too dumb and boring to pull it all off. Everytime this woman speaks I lose a little bit more of a patience for her.
She’s “synched” in to her corset, not “cinched?” Does no one proofread???
Uh… Blake, you’re not black, lmao. Stop. STOP.
I am not african american but not white. I once had an african american guy tell me “brothers like you cause you have a tiny waist and a big booty that pops out of nowhere.” So would it be racist of me to claim an “Oakland Booty”? Not that I would.
I think you can be proud of your curvy figure and big booty without referring to it as an Oakland Booty… I’m sure you know it wouldn’t be the best phrase to use, especially now that you know the connotation behind it.
That’s what most bothers me. Of all lingo available to refer to big asses, “Oakland booty” was her choice??
I truly don’t consider Blake to be a bad person. But, you know, she’s almost 30 (if not 30 already) and she’s been working in this industry for a whole decade. She should know better by now.
Agreed. She’s no teenager.
and this is why everyone likes leighton meester better & i cannot wait until the shallow flops so that we could be rid of her forever
I loathe this type of defence. “Well, I meant no offence, so if you have a problem with what I said, it’s on you.” Offence meant or not, you can’t just say whatever you want and then act appalled when people react badly. Grow up, Blake.
i wonder if she’s proud of getting married on a plantation
I honestly don’t know why people have such an issue with her, she seems perfectly nice and humble. If she presents herself like some flawless beauty people would slam her, and here she is saying she isn’t that in her normal life, people slam her again. She’s totally harmless. She doesn’t even come across as dumb to me, just normal. She might not be Einstein but she’s inoffensive. She did nothing wrong here with the booty comment, it’s people taking offence over nothing like precious little snowflakes that’s the real offence here.
Yep, you aren’t Einstein. It actually was insensitive and could be offensive. Just because you weren’t offended doesn’t mean it wasn’t offensive to others. There are race implications to what she said.
She had a big booty. So what. So many Oakland booties these days. No more flat butts. LOL!
I don’t think she’s particularly maliciousness or even stupid – she just has that brand of “dumb white people-ness” that sometimes crops up. Using the term “Oakland booty” isn’t problematic in and of itself so much as being unaware of the racial context. Black beauty is often treated as inferior to white beauty, which is why an anthem sang in favor of the black female body seems improper when coming from a white woman who is every inch the modern, mainstream beauty standard. So not malicious, no, but perhaps more problematic in the regard that she really doesn’t seem to get why people were annoyed even if it wasn’t her intent.
“I would never want to hurt anyone’s feelings or upset anyone. It’s nice to have a nice curve and not look like you’re starving to death.”
She would never want to hurt anyone’s feelings? Well, but she did it. I don’t have a “nice” curve… She thinks I look like I’m starving to death? You are sooo nice, Blake. I’m sure you don’t want to upset anyone.
I hate comments like this. Shut up, Blake.
I thought she was trying to be humble not seeking sympathy like she has it so hard. I’m glad she’s saying the red carpet looks are mostly optical illusions and not reality. Young women need to hear that so they aren’t going for plastic surgery to attain something that actually doesn’t even exist. They need to know it doesn’t really exist.