How did Christina Aguilera get away with wearing blackface & cultural appropriation?

[samsclubPRESENTSavam]

7 hours ago, Trash said:

Times were different, you had Gween serving chola and harujuku for a whole era.

 

I think JLo got away with throwing the n word in a song roo.

I remember the conversation on popdirt back then went something like, "well does jlo has ghost singers or not, though? it's not a good to look like you said it but it was probably somebody else".

 

 

[prézli]

She's a Latina, that's why.

[jomarr]

It’s called a tan which was very popular back then  

[brazil]

 

 

[livelikemusic]

Unfortunately, back then, the trend of being so tanned you turned orange was a "thing". It was always gross and should not have happened.  A lot of what Christina did was seen as "acceptable" back in the early 2000's.  Does it make it okay?  No.  But, at the same time, I also don't think she was doing it as an intentional thing.  Just something a lot were doing around this time, as unfortunate and disappointing as it was.

[banterfly]

4 hours ago, aesthetic bih said:

It's for the Indian people to decide. And tbh idk if Indian people knew about pop stars using their culture for visuals or their reactions toward it

They did. It was pretty obvious throughout but they did not mind. Remember this was the period when Asian music was being used by a lot of Western artists. The only controversy that came of this was when she performed on MTV and there was a Hindu group that thought it was "sacreligious". Just note the context here - the Hindu group had a case here because they felt their culture was being used inappropriately (they were not opposed to Madonna getting inspired by Hinduism or using it for visuals). Madonna replied:

 

"The essence of purity and divinity is non-judgment," Madonna said in the statement. "They should practice what they preach."

 

"Oh, they can kiss my ass. I’m not appropriating anything. I’m inspired and I’m referencing other cultures. That is my right as an artist."

 

 

[Marry The Gods]

6 hours ago, Aren said:

To be fair, New York Puerto Ricans and Dominicans (especially those from the Bronx like JLO) say the N word to this day, and they pretty much have a pass from their African-American counterparts. It’s a NY thing.

As a J.Lo Nuyorican fan I can honestly say it really depends on the Puerto Rican but if you're a very white looking puerto rican like myself then you will likely face some backlash and even get your ass kicked but again it depends on the group of friends you have. Black Latinos can get away with it because they're black. 

 

It's a nuanced topic but I've always frayed away from using the N word because its a horrible word with so much traumatic history but it's just wrong for someone like myself to use it . This is the exact reason why J.Lo got dragged viciously and still does til this day in 2023. I don't think J.Lo is racist but her using the N word at the same eras as the Mariah, Ashanti and Usher scandal made her look bad which is why Azealia banks refers to her as "Jennifer Columbus" which is now a rampant joke on stan twitter used against J.Lo. I still stand by that I don't think J.Lo is racist but she is tone deaf like the rest of our faves once they reach so much wealth.

 

on topic: A lot of pearl clutching in this thread when everyone's fave has done something "problematic" at least once in their career. 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Marry The Gods

[John Slayne]

tan (or fake tan) is not the same as blackface... 

[professor2000]

7 hours ago, brenda-walsh said:

 

i'm guessing you two aren't black, because if you were you'd understand how white people, especially in the entertainment industry, constantly profit off of black culture because they view it as something thats cool and edgy. once it no longer serves their purpose they move on. like i said earlier in this thread, xtina is not the only example of this.

 

there's miley, ariana, justin bieber, etc who have all used this same blueprint

While this is true, I just didn’t get that vibe from Christina.  She was only one of the few white Pop stars that I felt didn’t say anything offensive (and always showed appreciation for Black culture).  
 

Meanwhile we have JT talking about he “got the ghetto pass”  + threw a Black woman under the bus during the heat of controversy (Janet).  His appreciation for Black culture came across a little “I wanna be down/cool when it’s convenient.” (Same with him talking about some “beat yo feet” recently at a concert  and then did the dance wrong lol).  

 

To my understanding I don’t think Xtina has ever said or did anything offensive/insensitive like that.

 

(And this is not to necessarily to **** on JT, but just giving an example).  

[#Beautiful]

not 5 pages lmao. what ariana did was worse anyway

[AxelFox]

10 hours ago, Shimenawa said:

It was a different time, and no one was offended back then. She was showing her appreciation of other races and cultures. 

 

This.

 

It's sad (mostly) American society has evolved into what it is today. 

[The7thStranger]

Maybe some of you are too young to remember the overtanned duckface era of American culture. It was... hilarious but not offensive.

Edited June 25, 2023 by The7thStranger

[Click Clack]

10 hours ago, Mtjjproducer said:

Christina was always known as a Latina. She was just going through a chola phase. Nobody thought she was trying to be black just a ghetto latina

 

a better question would be how pink (the original Miley wanna be black) blackfished and was trying to actually pass as mixed. Also even Britney tried to be ghetto and play on black culture but she broke her knee in the process 

 

[professor2000]

7 hours ago, MonsterOfFame said:

Stop. Just stop. 
 

You're probably too young to know that spray tans were a major fad in the 00's. 
 

Shall we ask why Beyonce hasn't been called out for her 50 Shades of Brown throughout her career?

 

How about black women who dye their hair blonde or straighten it?

 

Go get a job instead of finding reasons to be offended. 

This is not a good argument considering that Black people have the constant pressure to assimilate to White/European standards of beauty.  
 

Literally still even now, there’s the debate about if locs appear “unprofessional” for the workplace.  Where as straight hair is considered “more acceptable.”  It’s deeply engrained in culture that White standards are somehow more beautiful.  
 

It’s not the same.

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by professor2000

[SharonStone]

That's not blackface so right there the thread about a 20 year old topic is wrong.
But the real question is, how do Britney stans get away with these threads? Imagine making a thread about Britney dressing up as an Asian or Indian woman like she did back in the day. How quickly would that get locked and warned?

[Anye]

13 hours ago, Mtjjproducer said:

Also even Britney tried to be ghetto and play on black culture but she broke her knee in the process 

[Josh]

15 minutes ago, SharonStone said:

That's not blackface so right there the thread about a 20 year old topic is wrong.
But the real question is, how do Britney stans get away with these threads? Imagine making a thread about Britney dressing up as an Asian or Indian woman like she did back in the day. How quickly would that get locked and warned?

oh please spare me Britney threads have stayed open for weeks

[Miichael]

12 hours ago, brenda-walsh said:

jt, bieber, britney, miley, ariana have all cosplayed as black and suddenly surrounded themselves with only black people to make their image seem more edgy/ grown-up then ditched the look when it no longer served them

When did Britney do this?

[suburbannature]

4 hours ago, brazil said:

 

 

omg someone please clip just the "i don't even know this woman" part with her pointing to xtina

[Mtjjproducer]

31 minutes ago, Miichael said:

When did Britney do this?

In the zone. She tried to be edgy with songs like outrageous, I got that boom boom, the hookup  using hit hop. To a lesser degree me against the music and early morning (sounds like 90s laid hip hop type of brear) Outrageous video was VERY try hard  white girl trying to be hood. only reason no one really brings it got scrapped due to her knee injury. She had her backwards hat baggy clothes. licked snoop dogs beard

[Chris]

Someone getting a tan is NOT Blackface.

 

Just saying.

[suburbannature]

6 minutes ago, Chris said:

Someone getting a tan is NOT Blackface.

 

Just saying.

No, but this is 

 

 

 

[professor2000]

15 hours ago, professor2000 said:

This.
 

And she was very much accepted/loved by Black folks — both artists and GP (see: her getting invited to many Black artist tributes, including Whitney).  So I don’t necessarily consider her appropriating Black culture.  She lowkey one of us lolllll.  

Of the ppl that downvoted my post here, I’d love to hear arguments about why this is incorrect? 
 

It is actually true that Xtina is one of the few white artists to get constantly asked to do tributes to Black artists + got praise from black artists (Whitney, James Brown, Aretha, Patti Labelle, etc).  Like…?  The list goes on.  
 

As I explained earlier, I haven’t seen my instances of her saying disrespectful things to Black artists/culture…unlike some of her other white peers.  
 

Or did y’all not like my jokey joke about her being lowkey black?  Clearly I was joking…  

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by professor2000

[Miichael]

1 hour ago, Mtjjproducer said:

In the zone. She tried to be edgy with songs like outrageous, I got that boom boom, the hookup  using hit hop. To a lesser degree me against the music and early morning (sounds like 90s laid hip hop type of brear) Outrageous video was VERY try hard  white girl trying to be hood. only reason no one really brings it got scrapped due to her knee injury. She had her backwards hat baggy clothes. licked snoop dogs beard

Sorry but doing hip-hop/R&B influenced songs and working with black artists does not translate to "cosplaying as black" and "surrounding herself with black people to make her image seem more edgy"  The strained reaching

[Enrique523]

Christina is getting hate on this forum and elsewhere 24/7, she's not getting away with BREATHING so i don't get why people are pretending she's getting away with ANYTHING