Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o took to Twitter to explain her disdain with a recent Grazia magazine cover. In the tweet, she accuses Grazia of editing her hair to “fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like.”
Disappointed that @GraziaUK edited out & smoothed my hair to fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like. #dtmh
pic.twitter.com/10UUScS7Xo— Lupita Nyong'o (@Lupita_Nyongo) November 10, 2017
As seen in the comparative photographs, the cover of Grazia shows Nyong’o with short and smooth hair, while the original image shows that some of her hair has been removed.
Nyong'o took to Instagram with a longer post, further explaining the issue at hand.
"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," she wrote. "I am disappointed that Grazia UK 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 continues with, “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, hairstyle and texture.”
This accusation comes just a month after Solange criticized London Evening Star for removing a braided crown from her cover photo.
Grazia has since issued a statement saying it is "committed to representing diversity throughout its pages."
In addition, the statement says that "Grazia magazine would like to make it clear that at no point did they make any editorial request to the photographer for Lupita Nyong'o's hair to be altered on this week's cover, nor did we alter it ourselves. But we apologise unreservedly for not upholding the highest of editorial standards in ensuring that we were aware of all alterations that had been made."
The photos of Lupita were beautiful and required no editing of the sort. However, kudos to her for standing in her truth and not letting it slide. At this point, black women have made it pretty clear: don't touch our hair.