Love Island’s Rebecca Gormley is accused of ‘blackfishing’ with new hair braids

Love Island’s Rebecca Gormley has been accused of “blackfishing” after getting her hair braided. In new pics and videos Rebecca is seen with braids and her edges laid.

People on Reddit have accused Rebecca of “blackfishing” after a user posted a picture of Rebecca and commented: “Rebecca from S6 has done this, only weeks after her cultural appropriation photo shoot. Is she doing it for attention? Or does she not have decent management.”

via Reddit

One Reddit user said Rebecca wearing the braids was “degrading” as many Black women are discriminated against for wearing the hairstyle.

They said: “This is a protective style used by black women to protect their hair from damage and encourage healthy growth. The issue is though black women have been discriminated for wearing this type of style and their natural hair in general (harassment on the street, rejection by jobs, etc.) For Rebecca and other white women to then go and wear this style as a fashion statement and to be seen as cool is degrading.”

Rebecca addressed the criticism on her Instagram story earlier today. She said she is not wanting to be disrespectful or hurt anyone, but that she wears braids all the time. She also commented on the “awful” messages she has been receiving about it.

She said: “So I’ve been going through my request messages and I’ve got loads of messages, loads of nice messages but loads of awful messages as well which I don’t think is fair at all.

“I’ve had messages saying ‘that I’m being disrespectful towards people’s culture’ because of my hair. But like I wear braids all the time, just because I’ve got a few more braids doesn’t mean that I’m being disrespectful, I don’t wanna upset anyone or hurt anyone.

“I’m just being myself, doing me, I’m literally just doing me. I had to get someone else to do my braids because I can’t do it as good as this, have you seen it? It’s unreal.”

via Instagram @rebeccagormley_

In the video she posted, Rebecca was joined by her boyfriend, fellow Islander Biggs, who said the messages Rebecca is receiving are not “fair at all”. He also went onto comment that if a white man was to compliment his hair he would see it as a positive thing.

He said: “My point is let’s say a young white boy came to me and said ‘oh Biggs I like your hair I want that’ I should be happy, cause he wants something that I’ve got. It’s appreciating the culture.

“Guys it’s 2020, it’s different.”

Rebecca then went on to say she thinks “it’s nice if you wanna embrace someone else’s culture.” This is the second time in a few weeks that Rebecca has been criticised on Instagram. Many people called her out for doing a photoshoot in a Native American outfit with a horse.

She addressed the controversy surrounding the photoshoot and apologised for offending anyone but said it was “just a photoshoot”.

She said: “And coming to the photo shoot I did with the horse I apologise if I disrespected anyone or if anyone felt any disrespect or hurt.

“I can assure you now that I didn’t want to upset anyone or hurt anyone, it was genuinely just a photoshoot and I do modelling and that’s what I do.”

The Tab has contacted Rebecca’s representatives for comment. 

Featured image credit: Reddit/ Instagram @rebeccagormley_

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