Advertisement
Streaming

Kacey Musgraves accused of cultural appropriation–and botching it

The star wore Áo Dài—sans the pants—during a Texas concert.

Photo of Alexandra Samuels

Alexandra Samuels

kacey-musgraves-cultural-appropriation-ao-dai

“I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you.”

Featured Video

Tyra Banks’ iconic speech still remains relevant today as the internet—namely Twitter users–berates the usually beloved country music star Kacey Musgraves for cultural appropriation during a Dallas, Texas concert on Thursday. 

Musgraves posted a number of photos to her Instagram story of her, er, rocking her take on, “Áo Dài,” a traditional Vietnamese garment that has become the symbol of feminine beauty and the pride of Vietnamese people. When worn appropriately, it’s a tight-fitting silk tunic over trousers. 

But the six-time Grammy Award-winning artist skipped the pants—both on her IG story and onstage. Unsurprisingly, she received immediate backlash. 

Advertisement

“If you wanna bring Ao Dai on stage. Fine. But do not sexualize it by not putting the fucking pants on. This is absolutely disrespectful and degrading. Do you even know what you’re wearing?” Twitter user @itsanxoxo wrote.

https://twitter.com/zoongz/status/1182875628447645697

https://twitter.com/itsanxoxo/status/1183007786730323975

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

https://twitter.com/DoNguyenMai/status/1183078767876460546

…Then came the flood of responses regarding her headpiece. What made the addition worse was that it had nothing to do with the already offensive outfit.

“The nature of white ppl to pick and choose (half of ao dai and whatever is on her head??) pieces of Asian culture honestly repulses me,” Twitter user @MelCLiu wrote.

https://twitter.com/clairevtran/status/1183059271572963333

Advertisement

https://twitter.com/MelCLiu/status/1183135192615141377

Musgraves, for her part, hasn’t responded publicly to the verbal lashings. But this isn’t the first time she has been accused of cultural appropriation. In 2017, she was similarly hounded for questioning on Twitter whether anyone would “be offended” if she “was ‘Smokahontas’ for Halloween.” (Though no one ever saw photos, we assumed the costume would’ve combined marijuana with some offensive take on Native American outfits.)

Back then, the internet was similarly up in arms. Musgraves opted for a doll costume.

READ MORE:

Advertisement
 
The Daily Dot