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Adele
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Adele shows off massive weight loss. All Americans can talk about is her 'cultural appropriation' — but those from other countries weigh in and shut it down.

Shocking

Award-winning singer Adele has been accused of cultural appropriation after a social media post featuring the superstar went viral on the internet.

Many social media users who either purport to be American or are presumably American took the performer to task over the outfit, but those from other countries across the globe shut down the criticism as needless and inflammatory.

What are the details of the photo?

The 32-year-old British songstress, who has lost a significant amount of weight over the last year, can be seen in an Instagram post wearing leggings and a Jamaican flag-styled bikini top, her hair in Bantu knots.

Bantu knots are a traditional African way of wearing the hair.

The singer's post is clearly a tribute to London's highly attended annual Notting Hill Carnival — which was canceled this year due to COVID-19 — which celebrates Caribbean culture and diversity.

She captioned the photo, "Happy what would be Notting Hill Carnival my beloved London[.]"

At the time of this writing, Adele's photo has received more than 4 million likes, but has amassed a storm of criticism in the comments section.

What are people saying about this?

One commenter wrote, "Notice how it's a whole bunch of WHITE people telling her she looks good with those AFRICAN bantu knots in her head, and those are the people she's going to listen to instead of the BLACK people who are saying this is culture appropriation."

Another added, "Culture appropriation to the fullest."

"[P]roof that cancel culture is selective," another user said. "Adele."

"Nope. not out at all. 1) the bantu knots are a protective, african american hairstyle. 2) you do not have any reason to use such hairstyle. 3) completely inappropriate," one user pointed out.

Another user snapped, "Ok but is this YOUR culture?"

"Bantu knots are NOT to be worn by white people in any context, period," one person insisted.

One user even went as far as to call for the singer to be jailed.

"If you haven't quite understood cultural appropriation, look at @Adele's last Instagram post," the user wrote. "She should go to jail no parole for this."

What else are people saying about this?

Despite blowback, many people defended the musician from criticism.

One person writes, "MANY of you don't understand the difference between APPROPRIATION and APPRECIATION. Adele, sweetie you look amazing."

Another adds, "Dear African Americans. Please stop speaking on behalf of Jamaicans/West Indians. Most of you all think Jamaica makes up the whole of the Caribbean. Most of you all think Caribbean people live in huts and tend to goats and sheep all day. (yes I've been told this) It is normal for tourists and foreigners to dress like this during carnival time in the Caribbean and we love it. They get to celebrate with us. So stop screaming cultural appropriation there is nothing wrong with her attire. I love it and we embrace people like this!"

"African-Americans: You cannot advocate for freedom whilst suppressing others," another social media user added, while another user wrote, "As a white person, there's nothing worst than seeing white people tell her she's appropriating, when most Jamaicans are sayinf [sic] she's appreciating."

In a very lengthy comment, one user added, "Never in my life have I ever understood why Americans get so easily offended by this. Us, the Europeans, are all from different countries, with different descent, different languages, different culture, even when it comes to religion, the majority of the eastern part of Europe consists of orthodox Christians, the western of catholic Christians and some other European countries, especially in the Balkan peninsula, have many Muslims, too. Yet despite that, we LOVE it when we all recreate one another's traditions, or wearing traditional clothing. I am Greek and I love it when I hear people from Spain, Germany, France, Italy etc etc saying 'malaka' or wearing anything traditional of ours. This just shows love, how can it possibly be dishonor? When somebody hate something, they don't recreate it publicly just to like.. laugh at it?! They probably just like it when they express themselves this way. Get over your trust issues, please people. And don't bring me the 'skin color' issue, before you even take a look at the skin differences between for example, a Swedish and a Greek person."

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