Blake Lively may be proud of her curves, but she’s catching some heat for one of her newest Instagram posts. Lively, 28, posted a front and back picture of her at the Cannes Film Festival. Next to is is the caption “L.A. face with an Oakland booty,” a reference to Sir Mix-a-Lot’s 1992 hit hip-hop song Baby Got Back.
Though the picture is currently at over 560,000 likes, some find this insensitive and somewhat racially charged. This is not the first time Lively has come under fire for race controversies – her 2012 wedding to Ryan Reynolds was at a plantation known for having slaves in the 1800s. Unsurprisingly, some have left comments on the photo and taken to Twitter to voice anger or poke fun at the ridiculousness of the situation.
Some, such as JE Reich of Jezebel, hypothesize that this caption is distasteful because of the inherent assumption that “Los Angeles can be equated to elegance and/or beauty (read: whiteness), and that Oakland is its foil (read: blackness).” Similarly, though Baby Got Back is seen by some as a novelty song, many people, including Mix-a-Lot himself, see it as promoting much-needed body positivity to black women.
Despite the controversy, many people both in and out of Lively’s fanbase have jumped to her defense, saying that this is either not racist or simply not something worth getting worked up over.
Lively, who may have been showing off her curves in her new pregnancy, has not taken the photo down yet, nor has she made a comment on the situation.