Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o, who won an Oscar for her role in “12 Years a Slav”, complained her hair had been airbrushed out of the front cover of women’s magazine Grazia UK.
“I am disappointed that @GraziaUK invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like,” she said in a lengthy post on Instagram.
She said it was an “omission of what is my native heritage”, adding: “There is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hair style and texture.”
The 34-year-old actor, who won an Academy Award in 2014 for her role in 12 Years A Slave, shared an image of the front cover of Grazia UK alongside what is believed to be the original image on social media.
Lupita Nyong further explained why she had been so offended in more detail saying, “Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are.”
“Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hair style and texture,” she added.
The magazine did apologized for the airbrushing and blamed the photographer for the alterations. However the question in concern is even though its photographer’s fault, how did it go without the approval of the editorial board?
