AI Summary
5 min readWhen Dancing with the Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy posted a video of himself getting cornrows for the show’s Mariah Carey night, he didn’t expect to trigger a firestorm. But within hours, the backlash was loud enough that he took the braids out before his performance. The episode uses this incident to argue that the cultural appropriation framework has become so brittle and punitive that it punishes innocent engagement with black culture while ignoring far more consequential forms of exploitation.
The central question the episode poses is whether a white man wearing cornrows for a Mariah Carey-themed dance is genuinely harmful or simply a pretext for performative outrage. The host points out that a black woman actually braided Val’s hair, which undercuts the idea that he was stealing from a community that had no part in the exchange. The dance itself was a tribute to Mariah Carey, an artist whose career is deeply tied to R&B, hip-hop, and black culture. The host argues that cornrows are a natural visual shorthand for that cultural context — not a mockery or a theft.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:05) **The Val Chmerkovskiy Cornrow Controversy Begins** - Amala introduces the story: Dancing with the Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy gets cornrows for Mariah Carey Night and faces immediate backlash.
- 2 (01:52) **The Core Argument Against Cultural Appropriation** - Amala reads a powerful comment that summarizes the opposition: Black people face discrimination for their natural hair, while white people wearing the same style are seen as trendy.
- 3 (02:15) **The Defense: Tribute to Harry Shum Jr. & Mariah Carey** - Some fans defend Val, pointing out that Harry Shum Jr. wore cornrows in a Mariah Carey music video, implying Val was paying homage.
- 4 (03:31) **Escalating Criticism: “It’s Bigger Than Cornrows”** - Amala plays TikToks where critics argue the issue goes beyond the hairstyle itself.
- 5 (04:32) **Amala’s Core Thesis: The Contradiction of Engagement** - Amala poses a direct rhetorical challenge: Do you want people to engage with Black culture or not?
- 6 (05:54) **The Outcome: Val Removes the Cornrows Due to Bullying** - A TikTok with 70,000 likes celebrates that Val’s cornrows “didn’t even last until Tuesday,” which Amala calls “bullying somebody out of a hairstyle.”
- 7 (06:32) **Val’s Gracious Response** - Val responds to a supportive fan, saying he loved the cornrows and will get them again after the season, but removed them to avoid distracting from his partner Jenna’s moment.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
The cultural appropriation Karens are at again. This time Dancing With The Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy is getting canceled for braiding his hair. Let's talk about it.
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