Real Housewives Of Dubai Star explains the choice of the afro wig for the Jamaican dancehall party

The real housewives of Dubai The stars are technically the new guys on the block when it comes to the infamous franchise of quirky rich women. Its first season, which is also Bravo’s first truly international spin-off, is currently on the air. The actors certainly bring the drama, but did they also bring cultural appropriation? After wearing an afro wig at the Jamaican dancehall party, Sara Al Madani explains her choice.

In the August 3 episode, her co-star Lesa Milan kicked off the festivities as a way to introduce her Jamaican heritage to the group. There were a lot of great fashion choices that night, but nothing more than the wig worn by Sara Al Madani, who is the The real housewives of DubaiThe only native actor of the United Arab Emirates. The move doesn’t seem to bother the mostly black cast, though the fan base is a bit different story. talk to page 6 Al Madani has since admitted that she is “worried” about engaging in the idea, though it hasn’t stopped her in the end:

And boy, they did! Based on what The real housewives of Dubai star says here, it seems that he largely identifies culture with ancestry, which is not always the same. For starters, she only publicly identified herself as Emirati, not black. Some online fans reacted to the episode with surprise and disgust at the occasional use of the wig. Nail Twitter The user called it “disgusting” and, in fact, “cultural appropriation”. Other compared it to someone who does “blackface”.

But Sara Al Madani’s co-stars didn’t criticize her wig choice at the party. In fact, the presenter Lesa Milan said she was “stunned”. She also predicted the online backlash that would follow, warning in a confessional that “no one is proposing cultural appropriation”. 0because Jamaica’s motto is “many, one people”. Milan added at the time that since she wore a blonde wig herself, everything was “fine”.

However, Lesa Milan suffered a backlash for what happened in the episode. (As did fellow co-star Caroline Brooks, who made a cursory comment about the “ghetto.”) Milan’s white stepfather was at the party wearing fake dreadlocks and a stereotypical dreadlock hat. And the spectators were also amazed by the posts in Milan for a “Jamaican” party. As one Twitter user said,

Actually, the real housewives The franchise has a long history of stars accused of cultural appropriation and even racism, as in the case of Jennie Nguyen. For instance, RONYLuann de Lesseps was criticized for wearing a Diana Ross-inspired wig and bronzer to a Halloween party in 2017. (NBC’s Megyn Kelly defended her infamous blackface comment the following year.) Then in 2021, after RHOAKenya Moore wore a Native American headdress to a Halloween party on the show, the ensuing controversy prompted Bravo to completely remove offensive content from the episode.

It is unclear if a similar tactic will be applied to the Sara Al Madani scenes and her wig in the tea The real housewives of Dubai. (As of this writing, they are still present everywhere the reality series airs.) But on his part, Al Madani apparently has no regrets either way. He told the outlet: “I loved the look” and “I had a lot of fun.”

I don’t know if that’s what Andy Cohen meant when he said the The real housewives of Dubai it was going to “shatter the stereotypes of Dubai”. But regardless, of course, stereotypes come into play. Stay tuned for future episodes of the new spin-off, premiering Wednesday at 9pm EST on Bravo and the next day on Peacock Premium.