Gwen Stefani responded to criticism that called her “Harajuku era” cultural appropriation by saying that she’s Japanese in a recent interview.
Asian American journalist Jesa Marie Calaor recently interviewed for an Allure Magazine profile. In the article, Calaor reflects on how she did not think much of Stefani’s use of four Asian backup dancers, who were known as the Harajuku girls. She was a fan of Stefani’s Harujuku products.
“I desperately wanted that little perfume bottle on my dresser because it made me feel seen in a way that I never did in fashion or beauty or really any mainstream media or marketing. I honestly didn’t question, or even really register, that the woman behind this Asian representation was white,” Calaor wrote.
As an adult she has re-examined Stefani’s Harujku brand. During their interview, Calaor asked Stefani “what she felt she may have learned from Harajuku Lovers — considering its praise, backlash, and everything in between.” Stefani responded with a story she’s told the press before. In it, she explains her love for Japanese culture began while her father worked for Yamaha, traveling back and forth from California to Japan. When she travelled to Japan for the first time herself, she felt very connected to the country.
“I said, ‘My God, I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it,'” Stefani said in the interview. “I am, you know.”
Stefani is not ethnically Japanese. She does however consider herself to be a super fan of Japanese culture.
“If [people are] going to criticize me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, then I just think that doesn’t feel right,” she continued in the interview. “I think it was a beautiful time of creativity… a time of the ping-pong match between Harajuku culture and American culture.”
[It] should be okay to be inspired by other cultures because if we’re not allowed then that’s dividing people, right?” she added.
In the profile, Calaor pointed out Stefani was conveniently able to identify with the aspects of Japanese culture people enjoy but did not have to deal with things like anti-Asian hate.
“Like Stefani, I am not Japanese,” she wrote. “But I am an Asian woman living in America, which comes with sobering realities during a time of heightened Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate. … I envy anyone who can claim to be part of this vibrant, creative community but avoid the part of the narrative that can be painful or scary.”
According to NBC News, a representative for Stefani told Calaor she misunderstood what Stefani was trying to say but did not provide an on the record statement. Stefani has not addressed her comments in the interview since the the comments receive widespread criticism.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We’re now on BlueSky. You can now keep up with the latest AAPI news there and on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.
We are supported by generous donations from our readers and by such charitable foundations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
You can make your tax-deductible donations here via credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo. Stock donations and donations via DAFs are also welcomed.
You can appreciate and adore aspects of another race or culture but that doesn’t mean you are of that race or can use people of that race. Gwen Stefani is showing her inner-Karen here. Instead of apologizing, Gwen claims to be Japanese. If you genuinely love and appreciate someone else’s race or culture, you would show it deep respect.
Gwen did not get on her hands and knees to bow to the Japanese dancers. But they were on the floor in the most humble groveling position possible while an entitled Gwen stood over them. Gwen displayed the dancers as subservient and sexualized, perpetuating a dangerous Asian stereotype. Gwen needs to re-evaluate what she considers “inspiration”.
Gwen, it is time to let go of Karen. If you connect with the Japanese, then use your celebrity status for something positive like stopping Anti-Asian hate or pushing for Asian American representation in Congress. Donate your wealth to support Japanese immigrants and the elderly. Showcase the culture positively without sexualizing it or making yourself superior in it.