Kim Kardashian has doubled down on her "appreciation" of cornrows.
On Saturday night, the reality star arrived at the MTV Movie and TV Awards in a tube top, high-slit skirt and her hair in neat braids, also traditionally known as Fulani braids. She wore her hair in the same style earlier this year in a series of images posted to social media, and called out Bo Derek's iconic beachy look as inspiration with the caption, "Bo West."
Followers were quick to critique Kardashian for cultural appropriation, because, you know, before Derek wore Fulani braids for her 1979 film debut in 10, black women had been wearing the style for generations. "You and your sisters make it a habit to appropriate and accessorize blackness while simultaneously working overtime to erase the very black women you spend a fortune trying to emulate," wrote Monique Judge at The Grapevine.
Derek also weighed in, coming to Kardashian's defense. "It's just a hairstyle," she tweeted back in January.
Late on Saturday evening, there didn't appear to be too much blowback yet on social media. However, some fans speculated that Kardashian wore the braids in order to steal some attention from Beyoncé, who dropped a new joint albumwith hubby Jay-Z earlier in the evening. Others argued that she was actually paying homage to Beyoncé, calling her style "Lemonade braids."
Whatever her motivation, one thing is clear: Kardashian doesn't care to listen to her critics—at least not when it comes to how she styles her hair.