Reality TV star defends wearing afro wig to dancehall-themed party in Dubai
Reality TV star, Sara Al Madani, has defended her decision to rock an afro-style wig to a dancehall-themed party, organised by her Jamaican castmate, Lesa Milan.
According to the Real Housewives of Dubai star, while she was nervous about wearing the hairstyle, it was also really important for her to wear it as it increased awareness about the fact that there are Afro-Arabs.
“I was worried about the look because some people might not accept it because of culture. But the thing is, the Afro exists in my culture,” Madani said in a video interview with Page Six.
Madani, who stepped out in a Rastafarian-coloured net dress with gold accents to the party, further added that the afro hairstyle was very popular within her cultural community, despite perceptions some outsiders may have.
READ: Former Miss Jamaica contestant among ‘Real Housewives of Dubai’
Similarly, Milan, who is a Kingston native, used her confessional to deter people from labelling the costumes worn by the non-black cast members as cultural appropriation.
She also used the occasion to highlight that the country from which the musical genre dancehall emerged, Jamaica, boasts the motto ‘Out of Many, One People’.
Cultural appropriation is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc of one people or society by members of another people or society.
In recent years several white celebrities, including Adele, Ariana Grande, Kim Kardashian, and Katy Perry, have been accused of using other cultures to gain clout.