appropriation

Brendan O'Connor · 10/20/15 05:50PM

“No matter how much I love cable-knit sweaters and Gruyere cheese, I don’t want to live in a world where the only cultural inspiration I’m entitled to comes from my roots in Ireland, Switzerland, and Eastern Europe.” Well, this is certainly a bold piece of writing, if nothing else.

Questlove Gives Definitive Take on Iggy Azalea's Hip-Hop Posturing

Rich Juzwiak · 07/23/14 02:30PM

Is platinum-certified, platinum-haired Australian rapper Iggy Azalea a racist, or a harmless drag queen? Is she a racist drag queen? Are all drag queens racists? Are all racists drag queens? Who knows! Well, one man does, certainly: Roots drummer/author/curator Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. Questlove is just about the wisest music expert pop culture currently has, and in an interview with TIME, he weighs in on the woman who has set so many social-justice-inclined fingers aflutter this summer.

In Defense of Miley Cyrus

Rich Juzwiak · 08/26/13 02:27PM

In the past, there's been a certain ceremony to the public sexual awakening of pop divas.

People in Harlem Confirm That the Harlem Shake is Not the Harlem Shake

Rich Juzwiak · 02/19/13 06:45PM

Anyone with eyes and a memory that goes back at least to the early '00s advent of Bad Boy Records knows that the meme or whatever it is of people convulsing arhythmically that is currently masquerading as the "Harlem Shake" is not the Harlem Shake. A filmmaker named Chris McGuire took to Harlem for man-on-the-street reactions and what starts as a jokey sort of montage gains intensity for the impassioned anti-appropriation sentiment the nu-Shake provokes. "It's not no dance, it's really a lifestyle," says one guy. "It's actually an art form, a dance art form that doesn't have the respect it deserves," says another. "Injustice," says yet another.

Joy Behar Really Gets Radar, Whoopi and Sherri Offended

Joshua Stein · 10/16/07 01:55PM

The on-again-off-again magazine Radar recently put out an issue. Surprising, we know! But there was more. The cover featured Rudy Giuliani, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama au natural in an homage to Vanity Fair's Tom Ford cover. Some of the ladies on 'The View' were offended. Others weren't. At one point Ms. Behar appeared to read from Sherri Shepherd's cue card. "Rudy looks like a pimp, Hillary looks like a ho and Barack is on the DL," she said, looking as if she had learned the line phonetically. A more accurate limn might be that Rudy is the well-dressed gay one, Hillary has the ability to rebound from clunkers (Domino, Healthcare plan) and Barack is the ingenue. But, of course, that would rob Behar of the Judith Butlerian thrill of appropriating the patois of sexual and racial minorities. That is fierce!