Bellami Hair Apologizes for Jordyn Woods Hair Meme
On Tuesday, Bellami Hair issued an apology to Jordyn Woods after the brand was called out for creating an insensitive meme about her new hairstyle. In response to the recent controversy surrounding Jordyn's cheating scandal, with Khloe Kardashian's ex-boyfriend Tristan Thompson, the brand took an uncalled-for shot at Jordyn's latest selfie, which showed off a short haircut.
Across a reposted image of Jordyn's picture, the meme read, "When Kylie Jenner stops paying for your lifestyle, including your hair extensions,” likely referring to rumors that Jordyn had moved out of Kylie's house. The brand added in the caption, “Bad hair is just one betrayal away. These memes have us loling.”
Immediately commenters called out Bellami Hair for the meme's insensitivity, especially because the brand rarely posts women of color on its Instagram page. "They have nothing but white women on their page and the one time they post a woman of color they throwing nothing but shade," one person wrote on Twitter.
The use of the phrase "bad hair" has racist connotations. Black women have endured countless negative stigmas related to their hair, with people labeling it "bad" or "good" based on its proximity to whiteness, and straight, thin hair textures. The stereotypes run so deep that black women have been kicked out of school and banned from joining the U.S. Army because of their hair, and New York City recently had to create a law to fight hair discrimination in the workplace. One Twitter user commented on the racial implications of the brand's caption, saying, "Y’all don’t have ANY black women on your page, except Jordyn Woods, and the caption was about how her natural hair is bad? FOH."
In response to the backlash, the brand posted a long apology on its Instagram page. "We would like to sincerely apologize to Jordyn Woods and our followers for the social media post that was shared on our platform yesterday," the caption said. "Because of our emphasis on wigs and extensions, the inclusion of 'bad hair' was a very poor choice of words and insensitive."
Jordyn has not responded to the post at this time.
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