Mo Abudu has slammed Sky News over an article they published on Monday 11th May where they called African hairstyles ‘Spiky coronavirus haircut’. She called the write-up a disrespect to a whole continent and the black race, as she called on them to take down the post.
The Nigerian media mogul on Saturday 16th May 2020, took to her social media page to draw her social media followers’ attention to the article by Sky News titled “Spiky coronavirus haircut growing in popularity in Africa, here’s why.”
The Sky News article had referred to African hairstyles where thread are used as coronavirus haircut, claiming it has had a resurgence in popularity in Kenya due to “financial struggles linked to the coronavirus restrictions, along with raising awareness that Covid-19 is real”
Mo Abudu registering her disappointment on the news report, corrected the news outlet saying:
“For starters, it’s not a haircut, it’s a hairstyle!!!,” she said.
She continued:
“Hair has played a significant role in the culture of ancient African civilizations. It symbolized one’s family background, social status, spirituality, tribe, and marital status.
As early as the 15th century, different tribes used hair to show one’s social hierarchy. Members of royalty wore
elaborate hairstyles as a symbol of their stature.
Another thing to note is that Africa is rich with ancient hair traditions and styles. African threading dated as far back as the late 15th century and is a cherished tradition amongst women in parts of Nigeria, Ghana, and the entire Sub Saharan Africa.
Generations of black women have used African Threading to style their hair and straighten it naturally.
It is disrespectful to our African culture to say this hairstyle is recently gaining popularity because of the Coronavirus or it is similar to a virus 🦠 which is major devastation to the world at present.
I would like all African women to send a message to #SkyNews complaining about the post and report,” she added
Mo Abudu further advised on the report on African Hairstyles, where she called on the news outlet to take down the post, saying:
“@skynews, on behalf of myself and many other African women who have shown their displeasure of this post, I would like to urge you to take this post down as soon as possible. It is derogatory and condescending to us, our forefathers, our foremothers and generations to come.
For future reference, @skynews kindly #Swipeleft to see pictures from over the years that shows the beauty of African women and our traditional hairstyles”.
Other celebrities also commented on the headline and the article itself, asking that it should be reworked. Sky News, however, still has the article on their site