10 Examples of Cultural Appropriation You Never Thought About

A dark cloud over pop culture

Pop culture revolves around the intersection of various societies: a little bit from here, a little bit from there. That’s entertainment. Adding diverse ingredients to the melting pot and stirring it up make the taste buds pop, but sometimes the meal can end up leaving the bitter aftertaste of cultural appropriation. That’s what happens when appreciation turns into exploitation: A dominant culture takes aspects of historically subjugated cultures and uses them for its own creative and commercial gain, without giving due credit, compensation, or respect to the creators of the original recipe. The term “cultural appropriation” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2018, which defined it as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the practices, customs, or aesthetics of one social or ethnic group by members of another (typically dominant) community or society.”

Of course, learning a definition and understanding what it actually means in real life are two very different things, especially when it comes to racially charged concepts. Here are a few examples from the entertainment world that you may not have realized were problematic—and will never look at the same way again. While you’re at it, read these essential books to understand more about race relations in America.

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