Zayn Malik defends Gigi Hadid from racism claims: ‘Trust me… she likes Asians’

TIDAL X: 1015

In yesterday’s post about Gigi Hadid’s alleged (or not so much) mocking of Asian people generally and the Buddha specifically, some of you mentioned this Vogue Italia shoot with Gigi. I’m not sure why this shoot suddenly re-entered the discussion over the past week, especially considering the original shoot was done back in 2015. I think Vogue Italia re-published some of the photos, maybe? And suddenly people were like “yikes, easy cultural appropriation” and “if Vogue wants to do a photoshoot with an afro’d model, perhaps they should actually hire a black model.” So this is just a reminder: Gigi has been part of conversations about race, racism and cultural appropriation before.

Anyway, back to the Buddha uproar. Many of the people yelling about Gigi’s racism were huge Zayn Malik fans. They are the kinds of fans who want to see Gigi and Zayn break up. So some of them tweeted at Zayn – who is British-Pakistani – asking him what he thinks, as an British-Asian man, about his girlfriend mocking Asian people. This is what happened on his Twitter:

If you actually go to Zayn’s Twitter and read the comments on those tweets, you might get a good laugh. Like, there are SO MANY TWEETS by unhinged fangirls who are trying to “educate” Zayn on why he should be offended and why (of course) he needs to break up with Gigi (and presumably date someone else, like them).

I said yesterday that I thought Gigi’s mimicry of the Buddha cookie was racist, but I also think it’s one of those teachable moments – she’s a young woman and she really hasn’t been exposed to a lot of racial politics. I’m not canceling her – I just hope she does better in the future. And please, no more editorials with afro wigs.

Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2017 - Givenchy Show

Cover courtesy of Vogue Italia, photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

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67 Responses to “Zayn Malik defends Gigi Hadid from racism claims: ‘Trust me… she likes Asians’”

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  1. RussianBlueCat says:

    I wonder if Gigi is angry at Bella for posting that video in the first place?

    • Meryl says:

      That would be misplaced. If someone is outed for doing something racist, it’s on them, not the person who caught them.

    • Daisy says:

      So, I read the old thread where she said he’s Middle Eastern and the writer said “he’s not Middle Eastern, he’s Asian”. But the Middle East is in Asia so that line really confused me. Could someone explain that to me? Are continents somehow different in America?

      • nitesh says:

        it’s like if I said Justin Bieber is from USA(my answer will be wrong ) then you will say no he’s from North America(that is correct but it’s not clear answer and it’s confusing as USA is in North america). so that person was right he’s not from middle east but his answer was to vague, he should have said Pakistan.

      • KB says:

        It’s technically transcontinental because Egypt is in Africa. You can be Asian and Middle Eastern, but not all Asian countries are Middle Eastern. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India are next to but not a part of the Middle East. So a Pakistani person would only be considered Asian, where an Iranian could be considered middle eastern and Asian, or an Egyptian could be considered middle eastern and African.

      • A says:

        Zayn is from Pakistan, which makes him Asian. It’s the label they use predominantly for folks from India, Pakistan and I guess Bangladesh as well, so that’s what he’s working off of on his end.

        However, Zayn grew up in a Muslim family. And as far as a lot of the more ignorant Americans like to say it, being Muslim = being Middle Eastern.

        But as for whether or not the Middle East in “in Asia,” well, I have to ask–where exactly are you talking about in the Middle East? If you’re talking about Iran, and you go to some of the more northern/eastern provinces of Iran, then there is a lot of cultural overlap since that area is very close to China. If you’re talking about Afghanistan, you have to ask the same question–where exactly do you mean when you ask? Some areas would seem more Asian than others.

        Territorial designations are entirely a social construct as much as anything else is. 😛 I know that doesn’t help at all, but. Y’know.

  2. AG-UK says:

    Can these two just go away.

  3. Merry says:

    Well, liking Asian D is very different from liking Asians. This isnt much different from the Chelsea Handler “I sleep with black guys” excuse. It should be a teachable moment but does she want to be taught? If she sees herself as an undeserving victim then I doubt it.

    • Nina says:

      Exactly. Just because you deem people of a certain race fine to f**k does not automatically mean that you’re aware of how they’re socially oppressed, or even care about whether they’re socially oppressed.

      It’s like saying, “I’m not sexist! I’m married to a woman!”

      • Merry says:

        Yes!! Or like that one date who told me he wasnt misogynist because he was raised by a single mother and then proceeded to tell me everything “wrong with todays women”.

      • Nina says:

        So he was a keeper, yes? 😉 That’s so gross, ugh.

        We as a society need to rid ourselves of this notion that being racist/homophobic/sexist strictly means that you’re actively campaigning for the extermination of a certain group of people or acting in an otherwise disrespectful way towards them. While there are some who are blatantly hateful, there are others who just choose to remain ignorant of the problems marginalized communities face, or are dismissive of them. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s just as bad, if not worse. It’s easy to point at white supremacists/meninists and condemn their behaviour, but it’s harder to condemn systemic discrimination because it’s so subtly ingrained into pretty much everything.

    • Nicole says:

      Yea so cringe worthy on both ends. Truly they lack brain cells between them

    • Val says:

      But Gigi is being told off for making fun of slanted/”squinty” eyes – a trait (racistically) associated with East Asians. Therefore his point, using the word “Asian” to describe himself (and his D) is irrelevant.

      While her actions were wrong, people are also blowing this out of proportion because they don’t like these two and what they represent. I agree that this is more of a ‘teaching moment’, but to be taught by someone other than ragey fangirls.

    • Artemis says:

      I’ve had so many arguments with my white friend who has a mixed-race child and likes non-white men in general because she’s racist as hell to the point I’m planning my exit from her life (she has 90% of my belongings so have to be stealth). Honestly, it doesn’t matter, you can be super racist despite living a life with diversity and never friggin’ learn! Pretty sure if her child comes home one day after receiving racial abuse (unavoidable in our country), she will get angry but still not realise she participates in racism on a daily basis even though she admits to it (don’t even get me truly started).

      Even if it’s a ‘teachable’ moment, why not let her feel the shame and guilt for a mistake she made when non-white people have to carry that crap every day for simply existing? What grates me is the instant defense for no reason. How can instant forgiveness and deflection and protection teach her anything? I think while black issues are more on the forefront, Asian issues are still something people gloss over quickly and it’s disgusting. Asians are people too, progression should happen for more than 1 community. Wasn’t Bella also just yelling about ‘falafels’ during a protest march? They’re dumb as hell and they’re far too old not to educate themselves, I’m not going to feel the need to protect a woman who is just FINE.

      • Really? says:

        I had a coworker like that who had a half-Filipino kid. She kept calling her kid, the “brown kid” and laughing hysterically because who could ever believe that she, a fair skinned blonde woman, had a “brown” child? I felt sorry for her child. The woman couldn’t even tell the difference between Filipino food and Thai food.

    • Ennie says:

      But… isn’t she half Asian/middle eastern herself?

      • grumpy says:

        Yes she is. So I don’t see how it can be racist because it is her race. If it was offensive it would be more the equivalent of ginger people being mocked by fellow caucasians with different hair. But in her case there was nothing mocking.

    • Otaku Fairy says:

      @Nina: This.

  4. Melody calder says:

    The afro isn’t really on her. She is a professional hired to do a job, blast the magazine for being tone deaf.
    If ANTM had taught us anything, it’s you do what the client and photographer wants

    • Kiki says:

      But you have every right to say no. That is the problem with my younger generation. They are so consumed with glitter and glamour of the “celebrity” world, that they will rather lose their pride, dignity, integrity and most of all respect for the grandiose of fame and fortune. I understand their passion and drive, (I know, I have been there… which is why I was so depressed and have a lot of nervous breakdowns) but not all money is good money. So my advice to the younger generation is “TO BE SMART”.

    • LOLADOESTHEHULA says:

      Oh please, she could have easily said no, it’s not like she needed the cheque.

      • OriginallyBlue says:

        Thank you, she does not need the cheque. Also somethings are more important than money. This chick, her sister, Kendull and Cara got where they are based on their names and family connections. You really think if she said no she would have been blacklisted and never worked again. I mean she is not that great and can’t walk, but still pulls covers and runways.

    • Crowdhood says:

      Dead at your “if ANTM taught us anything ” 😂

    • Dani says:

      She doesn’t need the check, no, but if she ever wanted to work with or for Vogue or that photographer again, no wouldn’t be the answer she would give when told to do something. I have to defend racist douche bags every day in the legal field and as much as I hate it, I don’t say no because I need my job.

      • Kiki says:

        But you are a lawyer. You are obligated to defend anyone at anytime and no one is going to hate you on that. I certainly do not… However, she is a model who has the right to say no. She has the social media for her fans who will give her encouragement whether or not she does them. She chose to to this because she wants to be a supermodel but sometime this is where you draw the line. Naomi can walk the fashion line but she can say no because she is NAOMI CAMPBELL. Gigi Hadid is still young but she can still say no because she is GIGI HADID, all thanks to social media. Therefore she can say yes or no to vogue but she chose not to because of the fame and fortune of supermodel.

  5. QueenB says:

    ah the Lena Dunham defense “I am not racist because i wanna f*ck Drake.”

  6. It'sJustBlanche says:

    A young, vapid, uneducated model said something stupid. I’m shocked!

    I’m just so sick of her face.

  7. ElleBee says:

    The cookie thing…..meh BUT that afro wig and darkened skin tone get the longest, sharpest side eye. Hire black models guys it’s not that hard

  8. OriginallyBlue says:

    Ya, are any of these new young celebs not entirely ignorant? My goodness. Of course, people give this girl all types of passes. Like how many times does she need to show her ass before people stop defending her; she’s young, she doesn’t know better, it’s her job, she’s not white so it doesn’t count. Enough already! Pick up a f*cking book and stop embarrassing yourself.

    • Kiki says:

      @ OriginallyBlue. I agree with you 100%. These “instagram” celebrities needs to just get educated and stop being such assholes. Zayn and Gigi are just two idiot pees and a stupid pond who are out-of-touch with reality. Didn’t they every occur to them that what they are doing and what these photographers and editors of Vogue magazine are doing are jeopardizing the very existence of what it is to be person who is not white by ridicule and folly? I think that this is getting bad to worse and we ( I am black woman btw) are tired of calling you our with their stupid antics. They are rich idiots who are living in their world,

  9. Lyla says:

    But Gigi thinks that her boyfriend is middle eastern not Asian. Lol.

  10. Daisy says:

    Doing Asian eyes, the afro, mocking a foreign accent, these things seem to happen quite a lot to her.

    • Linabear says:

      Good point. How many “accidents” can you have?

    • QQ says:

      Quite a bit, but Rich Young Pretty girls will be girls til their Lena’s Age and then They’ll be our “feminist heroes” or some such *eyerolls*

    • Otaku Fairy says:

      I still give her a pass on the Melania thing because she was specifically impersonating Melania Trump and mocking her plagiarism, not making fun of people who have foreign accents or mocking people for being from a foreign country. But this, she really should apologize for.

  11. Adele Dazeem says:

    I’ve said it before and I will say it again…this is the danger of social media. So many of these “teen idols” are idiots and have no understanding of their impact on impressionable minds. But when every moment is documented and out there for all to see, it’s like watching the sausage get made. While I’m not defending her, I can’t imagine the dumb shit I’ve said and done in my earlier years (hell LAST WEEK lol) that I would be so ashamed of if put before the tribunal of public opinion.

  12. Alleycat says:

    I don’t think the people who are upset are Zayn fans. That’s giving Gigi an excuse, an out. Gigi’s mother liked a tweet blaming the uproar on Perrie (Zayn’s ex fiancé). How about acknowledging people are upset because she mocked the way Asians look? And Zayn’s tweets just make it worse. Can we be done with this group of ‘celebrities’?

  13. Tiffany27 says:

    It’s interesting she apologized for making fun of Melania Trump, but hasn’t felt the need to apologize for her racism towards Asians.

  14. Adriana says:

    Although the context is different, it reminds me of Gwyneth Paltrow breaking up with Brad Pitt because she couldn’t handle his rabid fans.
    Issuing an apology would’ve been the decent thing to do. Even if she didn’t mean no harm, she still offended a lot of people.
    She better watch her step in the future because Zayn’s fans scan every single one of her moves in the hope to drag her for a misstep, and hopefully break them up.

  15. Menlisa says:

    The comments from yesterday were disappointing.
    It seems like minorities can only be offended if White people deem it racist enough and if not then we are being too ‘sensitive’ and are the reason Trump got elected.

    Trump’s America for you.

    • Snowflake says:

      +1

    • OriginallyBlue says:

      That’s why I usually stay away from the posts like yesterday. People are ready to jump in and tell POC (usually women) that they are wrong about their experiences and feelings. It happened with Taraji P. Henson, Solange, Zendaya, Amandla Stenberg (are you noticing a pattern) people were so quick to dismiss what they had to say and tell them how or what really happened. Every single time.

    • Artemis says:

      I think people still don’t care enough about other communities like Asians. It’s weird but it’s the only explanation I can offer. Or maybe people want to keep one group to deny humanity for or use them as comedic fodder to distract from their own pathetic lives. I don’t even know at this point.

  16. Clare says:

    Eh, not a fan of the dumbass nonsense that Gigi Hadid does and days repeatedly. Also very little sympathy, given this is not the first time she has shown how ignorant and uneducated she is about some of this stuff.

    Having said that – y’all can’t tell us asians/brown folk/black people/minoritites what should and shouldn’t offend us. We get to pick for ourselves, believe it or not.

  17. Nana Akua says:

    I really dont get y blacks, Asians,etc.cry cultural misappropriation each time a white person tries something unique to them. For crying out… Blacks perm their hair, have nose surgeries, wear fake lashes,etc to look “white” consciously or subconsciously and yet nothing is said. A white person goes for braids or puts on afro and then there’s backlash. Enough!! We are in a global world and we will always end up imitating a race distinct from ours one way or the other. FYI..I am black and an African from Ghana

    • Clare says:

      Probably because Europeans (white) colonised and/or enslaved ‘blacks’ (really not comfortable using that word – sorry) and ‘Asians’ etc for centuries.

      Probably because Europeans stole from, belittled, othered and subjugated ‘blacks’ and Asians etc for centuries.

      Probably because Europeans successfully estabilished the narrative that they are better than us in every way. (Remember when missionaries were sent to civilize us barbaric brown folk?)

      Comparing black face to a black woman perming her hair is a false equivalency. Don’t do it.

      Some things to look up : black face minstrelsy, Orientalism, Thomas Macaulay and his views of brown people.

    • MellyMel says:

      How do fake lashes make someone “look white”??

      • Otaku Fairy says:

        Right? The eyelash thing was the only weird, surprising thing about her comment. (Having long/thick lashes and trying to make it look like you’ve got long/thick lashes are both things all races do pretty regularly. Never seen that one on the ‘trying to be white’ list certain types of people seem to carry around on them waiting to use on women of color they have some issue with, LOL.) The rest of it was just the usual, predictable stuff people say whenever the subject of cultural appropriation comes up.

  18. Lyka says:

    I don’t really understand how a 21 year old, half-Palestinian, world traveling woman wouldn’t be exposed to a lot of racial politics at this point in her life. I’m mixed race, and I was “exposed” the minute I could understand language.

  19. Greenieweenie says:

    To be fair, I don’t think anyone should go after the model for the shoot–but these idiot editors. I’ll never forget that Dutch magazine calling Rihanna their ghetto n* or whatever…TOTALLY inappropriate but hey, that’s the level of understanding of racism in Europe (though I’m not all that confident US Vogue wouldn’t still attempt the same editorial faux pas). I’m starting to really dislike going after the actress, the model, the employee for the behavior of the people in charge. THOSE are the people who need to be asked about appropriation, about pay gaps, about sexist/racist themes.

  20. Greenieweenie says:

    Also, everyone saying get educated…I mean, how many of you are educated about race–since before this election cycle, at least? One thing that’s always blown me away is how predictable white people are in their discourse on race. Even the liberal ones are so predictable to the point where you know what someone’s opinions will be just by looking at them. Idk. You’re levying pretty high standards on a privileged girl in a bubble when mainstream culture in your own country has next to no problem with racism. JMO.

    • Snowflake says:

      No problem with racism? Then why have there been many protests? There was a protest at i think UCLA because an alt right guy was invited to speak there. Did you miss all this? As a white woman who looks like she was raised in a bubble and gets the side eye, I really dont care for the assumption that all people that look like me dont care about racism. Just cause i look a certain way, doesnt mean i feel a certain way.

      • Madailein says:

        I don’t care for this assumption, either. How on earth can you “know what someone’s opinions will be just by looking at them”? Talk about extreme prejudice!

    • hunter says:

      “to the point where you know what someone’s opinions will be just by looking at them”

      Mmmm, tell me more about judging a book by its cover and why racism is wrong.

    • Val says:

      I guess late is better than never? Some discrimination and oppression is still being overlooked but at least more people are woke. I applaud the AA community for educating people (through protesting, BLM, etc) and I hope they continue to.

  21. Oklm says:

    Sorry , but how is this racist ?? Seriously i don’t understand how a 5 sec video of someone imitating a buddah/sumo cookie is viewed as racist .

  22. kay says:

    humans are humans, period.
    white, yellow, black or red…there are assholes to be found. there are life savers to be found.
    divide and conquer…working like a charm since time out of mind.
    ffs.

  23. Ari says:

    I don’t know about Gigi but as for Zayn I would say where were all those stans when people called him a terrorist many times over the years. I don’t remember there being that much fuzz about it as everytime Gigi opens her mouth to say something stupid.
    And some of those going hardest at Zayn have Perry or little mix in their avatar and we all know Perry has her own problems in that department ( not to mention her mum) so it seems as the intensity of this is mostly because people are being stans.

  24. Tessa says:

    In UK you don’t usually refer to people from China, Japan etc as Asian. Some actually take umbridge if you do. Colonial relic I suppose.