It's Damage Control for Giuiliana

Giuliana Rancic, one of the faces of the E! Entertainment network has recently been involved in some controversy that sparked outrage on twitter. She hosts the most high profile red carpet live events, co-hosts E! News and even has her own reality television show Giuliana and Bill. Safe to say she is a well-recognised figure in the entertainment industry. However it’s her comments at her other job at E!’s Fashion Police as co-host that made her America’s public enemy number one. Well, at least for a short while.

Various news sources around the world including the UK’s Telegraph online reported the 40yr old presenter’s comments towards 18yr old singer and Disney actress Zendaya Coleman. Giuliana soon went viral after making comment about Zendaya’s hair saying that it "smells like patchouli oil… or maybe weed"

Things went from bad to worse when Zendaya herself took to social media and posted a message to Giuliana that she later shared on other social media including twitter saying "I was hit with ignorant slurs and pure disrespect. To say that an 18-year-old woman with locs must smell of patchouli oil or 'weed' is not only a large stereotype but outrageously offensive." The post currently has over 84,000 retweets.

In an attempt to redeem herself Giuliana also took to social media to defend herself “Dear @Zendaya, I'm sorry I offended you and others. I was referring to a bohemian chic look. Had NOTHING to do with race and NEVER would!!!”.This didn't seem to be satisfactory and acceptable to the twitter community as the topic generated more publicity. Beyoncé’s sister Solange Knowles tweeted that Fashion Police have been making fun of her hair for years. Which obviously didn’t do any favours for Giuliana, Fashion Police or E! Entertainment. Suddenly, the saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity didn’t pay off on this occasion.

There was so much backlash on twitter from the African American community on twitter that deemed the comments racially charged which led Giuliana to make an official video message public apology which aired on E! News. Which included “I want to say to Zendaya and anyone else out there that I have hurt, that I am so, so sincerely sorry.”. Zendaya has since accepted the apology but the damage had already been done. Fashion Police co-host Kelly Osborne and friend to Zendaya Coleman quit her role at Fashion police saying that she does “not condone racism”

The topic on black women’s hair is a sensitive subject and comments made by another ethnicity will obviously hurt or upset black women. Not long ago African American comedian and the Talk co-host Sheryl Underwood made comments about nappy hair which led the African American community to turn on her suggesting that her comments were insulting and insensitive.

How can this be avoided? It’s simple, racially based stereotypes and shaming are never a good idea. Just do not do it.

Click here to view a gallery of brilliant black women who rock the dreadlocks.

Sources:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/oscars/11431329/Oscars-Zendaya-hits-back-at-E-Fashion-Police-after-racist-comments-about-her-dreadlocks.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/solange-reaction-giuliana-rancic-racist-hair-comments_n_6751520.html

https://twitter.com/Zendaya/status/570075725765541888/photo/1

http://www.buzzfeed.com/iramadison/giuliana-rancic-recorded-a-video-message-apologizing-for-her#.nmkj552pG8

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/zendaya-wrote-a-powerful-defense-of-her-dreadlocks-after-rac#.lqZJZZ1ye3

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/05/sheryl-underwood-apologizes_n_3873970.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/celebrity-dreadlocks_n_6754984.html

Written by Dineo Moeletsi