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Home / Entertainment

Katy Perry addresses cultural appropriation criticisms in livestream

news.com.au
11 Jun, 2017 04:25 AM4 mins to read

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Katy Perry in the video for "This is how we do". Photo / Youtube

Katy Perry in the video for "This is how we do". Photo / Youtube

If you haven't tuned into Katy Perry's 72-hour YouTube livestream yet, then clearly you still have something left to do on this long weekend.

As promotion for her brand new album Witness, the singer is currently in the middle of a three day 24/7 livestream stretching from Thursday to Sunday that has filmed her doing everything from yoga, to sleeping to sobbing to a therapist.

The house was built specifically for her peculiar Celebrity Big Brother stunt and has seen Perry sit down with a celebrity therapist, cook with Gordon Ramsey and most recently be interviewed by podcast host DeRay McKesson.

The civil rights activist has been very vocal about African-American rights in the US and used his interview with Perry to call her out on appropriating culture.

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The singer has previously landed herself in hot water for her This Is How We Do music video, wearing traditional Japanese dress on stage and comparing fans missing her new hairstyle to Obama leaving the White House.

"In my intent to admire and appreciate a culture I actually did appropriate and I mad a mistake. I'm juggling 7000 balls," Perry said when asked about her music video.

The This Is How We Do video drew criticism specifically for scenes where Perry is wearing cornrow braids and eating watermelon.

The singer admitted it wasn't until a friend pulled her aside and explained to her the offence caused to African-Americans that Perry understood.

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"She told me about the power in black women's hair and the struggle and I listened and I heard and I didn't know," she said.

"It's hard to hear those clapbacks sometimes and your ego just wants to turn from them and I've had great teachers who hold me accountable like when I said I wasn't a feminist.

"My friend Shannon pulled me aside and said 'Sweetie, here's the Webster definition of feminism and it's just equality,'" she added.

When McKesson asked the singer if she could "understand why people would react that way" over her This Is How We Do video, she was quick to agree.

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"I have lots of white privilege," she told him.

Perry also recently came under fire for a joke she made about former President Barack Obama.

"Someone says, 'I miss your old black hair,'" newly blonde Perry said into the camera. "Oh, really? Do you miss Barack Obama as well? Oh, OK. Times change. Bye! See you guys later."

Speaking to McKesson, Perry explained she'd made the joke after feeling self-conscious about her hair.

"In my attempt to make a joke I made a mistake and I had said it wrong and something really triggered me," she said.

"Someone was coming for my hair again and someone said I'm not pretty enough without my black hair and I snapped," she explained.

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Perry also had an odd explanation for her comment about "not wanting to live in a segregated world".

"I don't want to live in a segregated world, especially in music. I've been able to collaborate with Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Juicy J, Migos ... How can I collaborate with people and lift them up and give them that spotlight. How can I lift them up in a way that's good," she said.

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A post shared by KATY PERRY (@katyperry)

The singer also addressed her struggle with interviews and attempting to "avoid traps" they set for her.

"I had this interview before and I could just tell they had an agenda and I get it they have editors, bosses," she said.

"Sometimes it's a dance where I was like there's a trap and there's a trap and sometimes it gets so big that it's all just orbiting around me," she added.

Before Perry's interview with McKesson, the 32-year-old sat had sat down with Natalie Morales from NBC News and podcaster Arianna Huffington, the latter of whom had asked her about her much-talked about feud with Taylor Swift.

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"It's time, there are bigger fish to fry and I love her and I want the best for her. I think she's a fantastic songwriter," she said.

"I truly want to come together in a place of love, forgiveness and understanding and compassion," she added.

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