This Woman’s Natural Hair Was Just Ruined on the ‘Today’ Show

The Today show sparked a bit of a firestorm earlier this week when it featured a segment on “easy and effortless” summer hairstyles. Presented by stylist and YouTube personality Deepica Mutyala and purported to be easy hairstyles you can do in under a minute — after the beach, say, or on the way to the pool — the segment took an unfortunate twist, and the Internet won’t let her forget it.

From the video of the segment, it appears Mutyala either didn’t prepare ahead of time or doesn’t have much experience with one of the model’s kind of hair. Jewelry designer Malyia McNaughton, a black woman sporting beautiful natural curls, surely must have taken some time to prepare for her appearance in front of millions of viewers. Mutyala then proceeded to turn those lovely locks into a complete mess on live TV.

Following the Today show airing, people took to Facebook and Twitter to demand an apology, rake Mutyala over the coals, and also attempt to boost the esteem of McNaughton.

Mutyala herself agreed that the segment didn’t go “as planned”:

McNaughton,who, in addition to being a model, is a stylist in her own right, and a fashion entrepreneur, spent plenty of time discussing the live-on-air situation with new and old fans alike. Reflecting on the moment in the spotlight, was quick to defend Mutyala, telling us, “I had no idea my first television experience would be such a memorable one. As an emerging model, the opportunity to be asked to tape for the Today show was a dream come true. Deepica is a true sweetheart and people should not come down on her this harsh. Backstage we practiced the style, it came out right and we expected the same results for the live taping. Unfortunately, with only 60 seconds allotted, the pressure was on and it did not come out how either of us expected.”

After all was said and done, all parties involved seemed to take the debacle in stride:

“However, there are no hard feelings on my part, as I know her truest intentions were never to make a fool out of me,” McNaughton graciously explained. “The goal for the segment was to show inclusion and diversity. Often times, black women are not included in segments as such, so to be that catalyst for my people, rather some felt negatively about it or not, was truly amazing and I am grateful again for the opportunity.”

At the very least, McNaughton is willing to give the Today show and Mutyala another shot:

We reached out to Mutyala and the Today show for comment and will update this story as their statements arrive.

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