Gwen Stefani is under fire for calling herself Japanese during an Allure interview published on Tuesday.
Stefani hired four Japanese backup dancers around the release of her 2004 album “Love. Angel. Music. Baby.” She was criticized for enlisting the dancers — Maya Chino (Love), Jennifer Kita (Angel), Rino Nakasone (Music) and Mayuko Kitayama (Baby) — for reinforcing racial stereotypes, per NBC News.
In 2008, the singer, who is Italian American, sold a fragrance collection called “Harajuku Lovers,” per CNN. The perfume packaging style borrowed imagery from Japanese culture, with a different perfume caricature for each of her backup dancers.
“Like Stefani, I am not Japanese. But I am a Japanese woman living in America,” wrote the Allure interviewer, Jesa Marie Calaor. “I am a woman who has been called racial slurs because of her appearance, feared for her father’s safety as he traveled with her on New York City subways, and boiled with anger as grandparents were being attacked and killed because they were Asian. I envy anyone who can claim to be part of this vibrant, creative community but avoid the part of the narrative that can be painful or scary.”
Driving the news: Stefani shared her affinity to Japan and the Japanese influences in her life. While recalling a a trip she took to Japan, Stefani told the interviewer, “I’m Japanese and I didn’t even know it,” per Allure.
- When asked by the interviewer about her 2008 fragrance collection, Stefani said she is “super fan” of Japanese culture, according to Allure.
- “If (people are) going to criticize me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, then I just think that doesn’t feel right,” Stefani said, per Allure. “(It) should be OK to be inspired by other cultures because if we’re not allowed then that’s dividing people, right?”
What they’re saying: Twitter responded to Stefani’s controversial comments mostly with humor.
Details: Representatives for Stefani have not commented on the backlash over her Allure interview, but she has defended her “Harajuku” era in previous interviews.
- In May 2021, Stefani told Paper Magazine, “If we didn’t buy and sell and trade our cultures in, we wouldn’t have so much beauty, you know?”
- “We learn from each other, we share from each other, we grow from each other. And all these rules are just dividing us more and more,” she added.