 Gwen Stefani just said she's Japanese now a lot of people are coming out against her calling it classic cultural appropriation A lot of people are coming out to defend her saying that she should be able to identify however She wants and this just turned into a hot political debate I would have never guessed that Gwen Stefani in 2023 would be able to get seven million Internet comments some supporting or some going against there some in the middle. Let's break it down We've got five major takeaways representing the five major viewpoints Of course, we're gonna give our hot takes at the end. Make sure you like subscribe turn your notifications Andrew number one Let's just get into the right wing response because the right wing they had a field day with this one They said hey classic overwokeness a white person in America and even show appreciation anymore without being called racist She liked the Harajuku culture and then people are trying to call it racist for it This whole country stupid. I mean if a man can identify as a woman why can't a white woman identify as Japanese? She's an artist anyways clearly. She appreciates the culture Yeah, I mean I do think there is something to be said for people being overly sensitive But I do think obviously they're not taking into consideration any sort of history from Gwen Stefani any sort of other comments She would have made and obviously she probably also a Republican now now that she married to Blake Sheldon So they're more defending their own tribe. You know what I would like this conversation to go is What are we fluid about when it comes to identity? Are we fluid about gender? That's fine cool Are we also fluid about culture and ethnicity not as cool right now? So I guess I want to have more conversations about that. Yeah, because I would say the gender and ethnicity are different Yeah, they're different. I get it. They're totally different That's why we need to have these conversations because are you applying that logic to this or not But we need to have we need to specify I'm not gonna give the right wing zero out of ten points on this But definitely I don't fully agree. I think they have an unbalanced perspective Of course number two Andrew speaking of unbalanced perspectives probably also the left right the left said basically you White people are the dominant baseline culture ever since Anglos conquered the world 200 to 400 years ago and they just feel like they can go around saying that they're Asian that they're Chicana That they're Indian which is all things that Gwen Stefani's been accused of even though She's Italian-American not Anglo but like basically white women can just take all the parts They want Fetishize it and then throw away all the realities because where was Gwen Stefani when all the Asian women were getting attacked over the Past couple years. She said nothing clearly if she identifies as so Asian She actually only likes two streets in Harajuku. This is fair. This is fair Listen, if someone's going to say they're Japanese do they have to feel the pains of being an Asian person, right? Oh, whatever pains there might be I'll tell you this if she said if Gwen Stefani said I'm black That would have been taken a lot differently. I don't know if Candace Owens would be defending her in the same way You know what I mean? So I do think that although being black and being Japanese are viewed completely differently in American society It's it's obviously like where do we draw the line? And by the way, I think that the left also made some valid points However, not fully also. It was also an unbalanced perspective to be fair Typically when you're this end of the spectrum and you're that end of the spectrum You just going for all the points that support your tribe and your side and not the whole thing Moving on to number three Andrew We got to talk about the pop cultural mavens This actually represents a larger section of the internet than you would think these are people who aren't hyper political I'd say they probably lean more left, but they're really more about just pop culture details and the art behind it Right and they were basically going into Gwen Stefani's past like she did the Chicana thing She did the Indian thing where she was rocking a Bindi She likes to play with culture because she points to her grow up bringing an orange County being like oh I grew up with so many cultures around me and some people were like I don't know we have to look at this within the context of Gwen Stefani's career of Kind of being a culture vulture. Okay, you know what I'll I'll say this and I'm not gonna go ahead and call her a culture vulture Because I did she did quote and say that she was appreciating all those different cultures She grew up with she had a band member who was Indian so she wanted to wear Bindi whether that's the right way to show it She's an artist, right? But I would say Gwen if you say you're Japanese do you speak any Japanese? Have you ever dated a Japanese person? Pulling the area on a grande where they kind of meant I want to be Japanese But only if I'm pretty much the top Japanese person in the world I'm the last samurai then that's how I'm getting also if she means that she more cares about Harajuku style Just say Harajuku instead of Japanese Harajuku is its own style It's its own glam rock less than 1% of Japanese people fit into the Harajuku archetype anyways What's the next perspective David? It comes from otaku's like these are people who are actually Into Japanese culture especially pop culture. Yeah, they basically said in Japan that people would not really care that Gwen Had the Harajuku girls because they don't even really like listen to Gwen's music that much Maybe the international school kids did and if anything at that time in 04 They probably were appreciative they probably were like hmm the way she's doing it is a little weird But in Japan we like weird and some people were saying Pointing out though that the Harajuku girls that sometimes had to bow to Gwen like Gwen was the Emperor or like some sort of like CEO So some people were like, you know It just kind of fits into the Senpai Kohai dynamic and I guess if we isolate it She was the Queen pop star in 04 and they were underneath her like tutelage So I guess they could see why she was the Senpai. All right guys I do think that it leads to our next perspective, which is more the moderate perspective Which is someone who's like I get the outrage But I can't feel the same because basically it's saying hey listen I wish that Gwen Stefani would just come out and say she's an artist. She loves cultures She's eccentric of a person and she's kind of a weirdo. So she's gonna play around with culture all those Harajuku girls They were in character. They got paid. They lived a fun life. So what's really wrong with it? It was probably her word choice. Yeah I think that the moderate answer once you take all arguments into like their totality is basically like in 04 Gwen was definitely a good pop artist or a great pop artist because she pushed boundaries Sort of like Madonna. Yeah, you should you was trying to be the new school Madonna, right? So she was pushing the boundary in 04 the goalposts in society change whether you like that or not Especially right wing pundits I'm sure left wing pundits like it more because the goalposts have shifted in their favor The goalposts have changed you cannot do what Gwen did in 04 with Chicano Indian and Harajuku culture in 2023 now how you feel about that is up to you But to pretend like it's the old days like 1990 standards It's wrong like basically what she did back then was acceptable It's kind of weird to cancel people post retroactively right history But obviously if somebody debuted nowadays a pop artist using all those influences It would be way more called than even the past 10 years We've had a lot of conversations about Katy Perry Kim Kardashian with the kimono all this gay shit I mean this is a thing that comes up again and again But Gwen because she has this long history of being into Japanese culture and appreciating it in her own way She's doubling down on it in 2023, which people just thought was a little bit And they don't like it because she's married a Blake Sheldon nowadays So it's the actually a well the micro mid macro situation my overall takeaway is this I Liked it when she did the Harajuku girls in 04. We thought it was kind of interesting Yes, I thought it was cool because at that time I was always in a Japanese sneaker culture I was in Harajuku Shinjuku stuff I was following Nego and all this stuff way back in the day, but a lot of people really weren't right So I was like man, she's like bringing it to the forefront now when she brings it to the forefront It is can be a hit or miss I think she had elements that were dope, but them bowing to her I could see why that was definitely cringy like I can overall like the Harajuku movement for 04 Standards, but acknowledged that there were swings and there was misses and there were swings and there was hits Yeah, I mean, I'll say this listen. She is an artist She pushes boundaries and I think in art you do have a little bit more flexibility However, she definitely did not update her firmware for 2023 what by doubling down and saying she's in the job She could have been more nuanced and just said hey I'm really into Harajuku because I don't know about her matcha brand Does she have like a traditional matcha brand? Is she out there doing the tea like the Shinto? Yeah, was she in the Shinto Buddhism? What it like? She's not really like Japanese. She's not Japanese That's just a fact, right? So she's she's into the sides and small aspects of Japan that are very popular globally Did she like listen? That's like me saying I grew up listening to rap I Dated a black girl. So hey, I'm black or something like it's literally people would be like nah That's not exactly how it works But you know, I guess what I'm saying is just like Basically she she could update her firmware for this interview and it might have saved her some trouble If you want me to really get into my last final macro takeaway Andrew How much is sort of like this Anglo view on the eastern world gonna be the default American view because that's what Megan Kelly and all the right-wing pundits are trying to maintain They're like listen guys as long as the Anglos are like well whoever's angle adjacent We just show like love who cares if like the love was a little misplaced or was a little bit misaligned Or it wasn't fully a hundred out of a hundred on the mark at least we said something positive about you We used to want to kill you guys, you know, I mean obviously referencing World War two and stuff I'm being dead serious That's how they think they're like compared to where we came from even a misplaced or cringy love for you guys It's still just just take it just accept it, right? And obviously us being like actual minorities or people like, you know, for example the writer of the article I know I didn't want to make it sound like I was overly criticizing the allure Filipino writer Like I don't fully support her or go against her at all I think she just made a solid point that I don't fully agree with but it's like I guess isn't it fair that other minorities We don't accept that same fondue point Listen, it's fair to question Gwen Stefani even in 2023 you can ask her those questions to be like, hey, what do you think about these accusations? I thought it was weird. What do you think and if she doubles down? Then she has to live with how people are gonna perceive it because she's not keeping her ears to the ground She doesn't really understand how people would react to that and even if in her heart. She feels Japanese She should also know I guess how that might be taken But it is also true that Japanese is not a group despite the whole bombing of Japan And then also the internment of Japan and then the whole war against Japan They're not really considered like a a oppressed group in America. That's not how we see it people do not take That's not how we see Japanese seriously or I would say Asians in general But the particular the cartoony anime Hatsune Miku aspects of Vocaloid aspects of Japan very seriously because I will end on this Ariana Grande used to love speaking Japanese to her crowd But then she got a tattoo that was wrong like the Hirakana was wrong on it And then she wrote like Hibachi grill on her arm Everybody made fun of her and immediately after that she stopped learning Japanese forever So clearly I'm not saying that she was fully wrong for ever learning in the first place, but clearly The respect for the culture seemed to be on thin ice I do think that if you want to use a culture and you think it's interesting I think that's fine, but you still have to do your research Like if you are going to get more popular by using elements of a culture I think that's totally cool in America like it's generally fine because I think that if you have a true appreciation Why not America's a mixed society of course, but do your research. That's all I'm saying and yeah I mean have some more conversations about it. All right, you guys let us know what you think in the comment section below I see a lot of you know discussions arguing about the micro but at the end of the day Hopefully we brought it to a macro level. Let us know what you think in the comment section below until next time We'd hop up boys. We out peace