Patrick Starrr is being accused of "cultural appropriation" for wearing a 'Nigerian gele'

27 November 2019, 15:40

Patrick Starrr arrives at the 2019 American Music Awards, on Twitter. Picture: Steve Granitz/WireImage, @patrickstarrr via Twitter

By Jazmin Duribe

"We're back at it again with another makeup artist whitewashing West African culture."

Patrick Starrr is being accused of cultural appropriation for wearing a "turban" that looks very similar to the West African gele or head tie.

On 24 November, the YouTuber shared photos of himself on Twitter and Instagram in an all blue outfit. In the images, Patrick is wearing a royal blue dress and what looks like a bedazzled head wrap in a matching fabric. He captioned the image: "I’m telling my kids this was Cinderella…" Patrick went on to call the headpiece a "turban" on his Instagram page when he tagged the designer.

View this post on Instagram

💫My confidence is designer... This glam was done so major by my drag grandma @muaroni Here’s what we used! Foundation @lancomeofficial teinte idole foundation and @maccosmetics full coverage Concealer @maccosmetics Studio Finish Concealer NW25 Brows @benefitcosmetics Brow Styler #4 Setting Powder @bennyemakeup Banana Light Eyeshadow @anastasiabeverlyhills Soft Glam Palette Lashes Random Lashes from Beauty Room Blush @maccosmetics Peaches Foundation Powder @maccosmetics NW25 studio fix under the eye and C6 for face Bronzer @maccosmetics dark deep mineralized skin finish Lips @maccosmetics Mahogany and #Macpatrickstarrr “MamaStarrr” lipstick and gloss Highlighter @jaclynhill @jaclynhillcosmetics Flash Palette and Loose Powder in Brilliant #patrickstarrr #benefitpartner

A post shared by patrickstarrr (@patrickstarrr) on Nov 23, 2019 at 5:50pm PST

Soon after Patrick (who is Filipino-American) shared the photo, people started to notice that his head tie looked a lot like a gele. In Nigeria, large and elaborate geles are worn to weddings and special events. They usually match their traditional attire or are in the same pattern.

Needless to say, Patrick's fans were pretty offended. He was called out for appropriating West African culture and incorrectly labelling the head tie as a turban.

this is a gele SKSKSK fam i better not see anyone call it a “extravagant headwrap” this whole outfit screams nigerian https://t.co/zpA36FUffG
— paramore stan account (@itsjustfatimah) November 25, 2019

I'm telling my kids this is cultural appropriation.
— Lexie Lou 🌊✨💙 (@xserendipitylex) November 25, 2019

*tokyo toni voice* Ur not a black woman b*tch https://t.co/Gj7l4wJvq2
— CHIN🐲 (@chinremoval) November 25, 2019

Nigerians dragging Patrick Starr rn pic.twitter.com/HklG0gTSbp
— Bombshell Nonye 👑 (@Chinonyerem__) November 25, 2019

I hope you know this is traditional Nigerian wear, you culture vulture
— chidimma (@ifymilan) November 25, 2019

what is wrong with you? why do you love to culturally appropriate? idgi
— rach • register to vote sis (@rachelaa) November 25, 2019

I have always been a huge fan of Patrickstarr,but we have to call a spade, a spade.
You can’t just appropriate west African culture,without giving props and expect everyone to be mute.
And instead of correcting yourself,you just edited the post & removed the “turban” word. 🤦🏼‍♀️
— Ego oyibo (SKINthusiast 💫) (@Onyimiree) November 26, 2019

Ewwwwwwwwwww bitches out here appropriating Geles now??? Imma have to put a whole foot in someone’s ass if I see this in real life lol https://t.co/4y65Xss6Is
— Temitope (@tippythepoet) November 25, 2019

aaaaand we’re back at it again with another makeup artist whitewashing west african culture... imagine how tired we are 😪 https://t.co/kkMxYetJZ2
— sorry to this man (@blackmvmt) November 25, 2019

Patrick is yet to respond to the backlash, but he did remove the word "turban" from his Instagram post.