Creator called out for 'tone deaf' comparison between fashion at a gala in India and 'The Hunger Games': 'This is my culture'
The content creator Jack Wright is being called out by fans, after he posted a TikTok to his 11 million followers comparing an Indian gala to The Hunger Games.
The 20-year-old was invited by the Ambani family to attend the opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai. The Ambani family is known as the richest family in India, and 66-year-old Mukesh Ambani was named one of the top 10 richest people in the world in 2020.
It’s not immediately clear what the relationship is between Wright and the Ambani family.
But in a TikTok Wright uploaded on April 1 showing him and other guests at the NMACC opening, Wright joked in the caption, “thanks for having me in panem! cant wait for the 80th annual hunger games.”
The video featured Wright and several other guests in traditional Indian attire, with Wright wearing an ornate gold Nehru jacket. Even the music the TikTok is set to is from the Stanley Tucci character’s talk show in The Hunger Games universe.
Perhaps in an attempt to counter the backlash in the comments, Wright uploaded another video two days later, saying “Indian fashion is so top tier” and captioned the quick clip: “i don’t wanna leave. i love india.”
TikTok users were not impressed with Wright’s The Hunger Games comparison. One top commenter wrote, “Hunger games??? Bestie this is my CULTURE.”
Despite all the debate over appropriating dress from other cultures, Erich Hatala Matthes, a professor at Wellesley College who studies the ethics of cultural heritage, argued in an interview with NPR in 2018 that in some instances, it can be an act of “cultural solidarity.”
What people have a problem with is Wright’s joke comparing traditional Indian attire to the extravagant, over-the-top clothing in the fictional city of Panem.
“it’s very tone deaf,” another commenter wrote on Wright’s video. “comparing cultural and traditional clothes to literal costumes like this is culture not some random event.”
This is the second time in the past six months that Wright has caught flack for his TikTok videos. In October, followers weren’t happy when he dressed up like Jeffrey Dahmer for Halloween and recreated a scene from the controversial Netflix show, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The video has since been deleted.
Wright first came into the spotlight in January 2022, when he uploaded a 17-minute YouTube video titled “what sienna mae did to me.” In the video, which has over 22 million views, Wright accused former TikTok Hype House member Sienna Mae Gomez of crossing boundaries.
“She would constantly come to my house,” he said. He added that Gomez would remember door codes and alleged that one time, he woke up to find her in his room.
“I apologize if there were times that I made you feel uncomfortable. I am sorry if anything I ever did triggered other things you have experienced or any feelings of discomfort,” Gomez wrote in a Medium post. “I’m so sad that this is where we ended up.”
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