For a few days, I’ve been dedicating 0.1 percent of my precious brain power trying to understand why anyone cares that actress Blake Lively took to Instagram to post a photo of her white girl cakes packed tightly into an Atelier Versace gown, claiming she has an “L.A. face with an Oakland booty” on Tuesday, May 17. First, I think the woman looks pretty ai-ight in the dress. She’s no Buffie the Body, but she did the dress justice. Second, after polling a few friends, I’m convinced half of you never heard of Lively until the outrage began. Yet, social media, including Black Twitter seemed bent on setting Lively and her derriere aflame for describing herself using lyrics from Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 rap song “Baby Got Back.”
Apparently, Sir Mix-A-Lot feels the same as I do. Yesterday, the rapper sufaced to share his opinion of Lively’s comment, which many are calling racially insensitive. He told the New York Daily News, “I don’t think she’d wear that dress if she thought that booty is horrible — and to me, it ain’t horrible … I don’t get it at all. She’s saying she’s proud of her butt. I’m glad she embraced the look, because that’s what I wanted (with the song).”
He continued, “All I would say to the critics is let’s better understand the context of what she said. If [what she’s] saying is, ‘I have this butt that Mix-a-Lot was talking about in ‘Baby Got Back,’’ that’s a good thing. She’s saying I’ve embraced this ideal of beautiful. However, if what she’s saying is, ‘I cannot believe I got this fat, this is horrible,’ then I agree with the critics.”
While many people online have tried to force Lively to take the photo down, she hasn’t and Sir Mix-A-Lot is happy about that.
He said, “I’m glad she didn’t pull it down … I don’t think she should.”
What do you think of Lively’s photo caption? Was it insensitive?
