Gwen Stefani: ‘I’m Japanese‘

[BUtterfield 8 41,037]

Stefani said she was introduced to Japanese culture by her father, who worked at Yahama for 18 years and frequently traveled between California and Japan.

“That was my Japanese influence,” Stefani said. “And that was a culture that was so rich with tradition, yet so futuristic [with] so much attention to art and detail and discipline and it was fascinating to me.”

Stefani traveled to the Harajuku district as an adult. She told Allure, “I said, ‘My God, I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it.’ I am, you know.” 

Declaring herself a “super fan” of Japanese culture, Stefani defended herself against the backlash she’s faced over her Harajuku era. “If [people are] going to criticize me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, then I just think that doesn’t feel right,” she said. “I think it was a beautiful time of creativity…a time of the ping-pong match between Harajuku culture and American culture. [It] should be okay to be inspired by other cultures because if we’re not allowed then that’s dividing people, right?” 

As reported by Allure: “During our interview, Stefani asserted twice that she was Japanese and once that she was ‘a little bit of an Orange County girl, a little bit of a Japanese girl, a little bit of an English girl.’ (A representative for Stefani reached out the next day, indicating that I had misunderstood what Stefani was trying to convey. Allure later asked Stefani’s team for an on-the-record comment or clarification of these remarks and they declined to provide a statement or participate in a follow-up interview.)

Stefani concluded by telling Allure that she identifies not just with Japanese culture but also with Hispanic and Latinx cultures because of her upbringing in Anaheim, California. “The music, the way the girls wore their makeup, the clothes they wore, that was my identity,” she said. “Even though I’m an Italian American — Irish or whatever mutt that I am — that’s who I became because those were my people, right?” 

 

[HotLikeMexico 4,651]

Culture Vulture. 

[Franch Toast 25,963]

Nooo Gwendalupe nooooo. Time for a new publicist 

[Teletubby 138,699]

wat?

[tomsches 17,325]

[nATAH 44,153]

i think it's fine to be inspired by cultures as long as you're not mocking/degrading them but girl come on

[Tom Nook 37,765]

Whew her pr team is gonna be working over time this week 

[Kimmo 79,641]

Blake come get your gurl and take her ass back to the ranch… 

[Modern Ecstasy2 2,193]

You are not Japanese sweetheart. That's not how that works.

Yikes.

[Delulu Rogers 7,043]

I don’t see what the issue is. It’s clearly in reference to her identifying/appreciating Japanese culture and not her racially claiming to be Japanese 

[KURUSHITOVSKA 20,451]

Who's that?

Never heard of her tbh

[Controversiaga 9,581]

all she should have said was that she loved the culture and thought it was so beautiful and inspiring and she wanted to use her platform and her art and her music to introduce it to American and other international audiences.

[bionic 44,736]

i kinda get what she's trying to say but she is serving

[Controversiaga 9,581]

Just now, Delulu Rogers said:

I don’t see what the issue is. It’s clearly in reference to her identifying/appreciating Japanese culture and not her racially claiming to be Japanese 

this too. I think ppl r taking her comment a bit too literal, and that was not her intention. however, she should've been more careful with her wording because ppl love to exaggerate things and take it to the extreme.  I understand what she meant, but nowadays, you just gotta be extra cautious unfortunately.

[phantasmas 10,097]