Lil Uzi Vert is on the defense today after a few social media users called him out for appropriating Asian culture by implanting a multimillion dollar pink diamond in his forehead.
Lil Uzi actually sort of called attention to the issue when he posted screenshots from his Instagram story to his Twitter account that contained images of one woman and two men, presumably of Hindu culture. Lil Uzi’s caption read, “I’m just a Average dude.”
The people in the photos had a symbolic marking on the center of their foreheads, which is called Bindu. In Hindu culture, Bindu is most often associated with Ajna Chakra, signifying the “third eye” or subconscious mind.
Lil Uzi posted the pics, seemingly drawing comparisons to his most recent appearance after he had the diamond put in his forehead.
Uzi has been the subject of several memes but few have compared his marking to Bindu until he shared the photos.
Some people weren’t fans of the comparison, calling Uzi out for appropriating Asian culture/
“Where r all the people saying cultural appropriation? I guess it doesn’t matter when it’s asian cultures,” one Twitter user responded to Uzi’s tweet.
Some of Uzi’s fans immediately jumped to Uzi’s defense, claiming it’s not appropriation because he’s not profiting off of his appearance.
Uzi must have caught wind of what was going down in his mentions because he responded to some of his critics before later deleting the tweet.
“Hey glad to see you sharing your thoughts and knowledge….but I’m not mimicking anything I know about a lot and love different forms of art…do you even know where the images is from? Honestly…I love y’all.”
He later tweeted that a producer friend put him on to “Mahabharat,” a 2013 Indian mythological TV series. The photos he shared are presumably screenshots of that TV show.
What are your thoughts on this one? Let us know.
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