Zendaya and the Oscar Locs Controversy

So last weekend was the Oscar's. It was great. Awards were won, statements were made, fancy people did fancy stuff and the whole world watched. Actually, there were a lot of awesome and powerful movements promoted this year, even calls to action, which was refreshing. But on the red carpet, a controversy was sparked. Zendaya, 18-year-old, actress, singer, and dancer from the U.S., was stunning as she walked down the red carpet in a white flowy gown and luscious locs.

But as usual, we can always count on Fashion Police for some crap entertainment. In their Oscar recap, the host, Giulianna Rancic, made an offensive and racist comment about Zendaya's hair, saying that someone her age with locs must "smell of patchouli or maybe weed". Now, let me explain why this is problematic. She is associating weed and patchouli oil with a hair style prominently worn by, and meant to uplift and inspire Black people while society told them everything about them was unacceptable. Locs became more popular with the Rastafari and reggae movements, and especially after Bob Marley became popular. But wearing locs was never about looking cool and being hip. So Rancic's comment, whether she knew it or not was perpetuating a historically racist view.
Well after that, the twittersphere blew up. People were lashing out at Rancic attacking her body image, and even some death-like threats. But Zendaya also replied. She said in her statement that she doesn't feel the need to comment on every negative thing said about her, but some things can't go unchecked. She listed highly educated and accomplished people who also have locs, and then went on to say that none of them smell like marijuana.

                "There is already harsh criticism of African American hair in society without the help of ignorant people who choose to judge others based on the curl of their hair."

Her response was perfect, and the whole thing was all over the news. Then Rancic issued an on-air apology.

The way the media handled it was pretty straight forward, just showing the tweets and the interactions. But then the big story became, the fact that Kelly Osbourne was so upset by the whole thing that she threatened to leave the show, and ended up doing so. When I googled Zendaya in the news tab, most of the headlines were about Kelly Osbourne, rather than the actual news about the controversy. It's unfortunate that that is what the big conversation shifted to, but at least if someone was really interested, they could still get the whole story since there were recaps and links. I do think the way it has blown up is good because it opens up a very much needed dialogue. It also shows that people are holding the gatekeepers of media accountable, which wasn't as easy to do even ten years ago. Which shows that our society cares enough to know what kind of coverage they do and don't want, even if it is Fashion Police.