Katy Perry dressed up as a sexy Geisha for her American Music Awards performance of her new single “Unconditionally” and people are in an uproar.
During the performance, Katy came out wearing a kimono (as pointed out at Kotaku — a mix between a kimono and a Chinese cheongsam with ample uncustomary cleavage) and proceeded to throw out several Japanese cultural touchstones.
There were geisha moves (danced by seemingly non-Japanese back-up dancers), giant fans, cherry blossom trees, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, and more.
Many find Katy’s mix of Chinese & Japanese culture for the use of entertainment racist and insensitive, while others didn’t think much of it.
One Twitter user (via The Huffington Post) said Perry “nailed the traditionally ignorant costume of a white pop singer.” Another also asked, “why are you dressed like a geisha katy perry. why. for what. #thisisracist like horribly obviously racist.” [SIC]
What do you think? Watch the performance below and sound off!
[via Kotaku]
Comments are closed.