Andy Cohen has backtracked on comments he made slamming teen actress Amandla Stenberg over Kylie Jenner’s cornrows.
As previously reported, during a recent segment on “Watch What Happens Live,” the Bravo star criticized Stenberg for voicing her opinion about a topic she clearly feels passionate about. Not truly understanding the full context of the situation, Cohen labeled the Hunger Games star the “Jackhole” of the day saying: “Today’s Jackhole goes to the Instagram feud between Kylie Jenner and Hunger Games star/Jaden Smith’s prom date Amandla Stenberg, who criticized Kylie for her cornrows, calling it cultural appropriation. White girls in cornrows … is it OK or nay, Laverne and Andre?” he said, asking guests Laverne Cox and Vogue fixture André Leon Talley to weigh in.
Sadly, neither Cox or Talley initially defended the teen star, who like anyone else is entitled to her opinion. “To me it’s fine,” Talley replied.
“Bo Derek in 10,” added Cox, citing the beach babe of the 1979 film.
Fortunately for Stenberg, fans weren’t feeling Cohen’s remarks, which prompted #boycottBravo to start trending on Twitter, in turn forcing him to apologize. “I want to apologize to Amandla,” he tweeted. “I didn’t understand the larger context of this cultural discussion and TRULY meant no disrespect to her or anyone else.”
Cohen then retweeted a post from Cox detailing her initial response on “WWHL.” “When in answer to Andy Cohen’s question on ‘Watch What Happens Live’ on July 12, ‘White girls and cornrows, yay or nay?’ I said what I said in an attempt to not get involved in what I understood at the time to be an Instagram feud between someone with whom I was not familiar and Kylie Jenner on the topic of cultural appropriation,” Cox wrote today. “I have never been interested in getting involved in any celebrity feuds.”
The “Orange Is the New Black” star continued, “In that moment, I also felt that the topic of cultural appropriation needs way more than the 10 seconds or less I had to respond at the end of the show to fully unpack. I said as much to Andre Leon Tally after the cameras stopped rolling.”
Regardless of Cohen’s apology, his blithe synopsis of Stenberg’s criticism is proof that we still have a long way to go. Not only did Cohen rush to criticize a young girl and her beliefs, he made an ill-informed statement that could have easily been avoided if he had taken the time to see where Stenberg was truly coming from. It’s safe to say Cohen truly did not know the “larger context” of his words or the damage they would cause. What do you think of Cohen’s apology. Was he wrong or right for defending Jenner’s #whitegirlsdoitbetter post? Sound off in the comment section below.
