Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones continues to lose at Track & Field social media, this time after telling a Twitter follower that she needed a “relaxer” to portray her for Halloween.
In and of itself, that statement might notseem insidious, but when placed in context of her mockery of Trayvon Martin‘s friend Rachel Jeantel, some suggest a disturbing pattern of cultural insensitivity is beginning to emerge.
See Jones’ response to the fan’s costume above:
And a relaxer. I haven’t rocked curls since h.s :p RT @trackchick13_: Lolo jones 4 Halloween.I just need a hurdle. https://t.co/IiK0kw3bGj
— Lolo Jones (@lolojones) November 1, 2013
The fan, Twitter user @trackchick13, tried to justify the perceived error and others on Twitter came to her defense:
Don’t Explain Nothing To Her “@trackchick13_: @lolojones I did the best I could for the time being.”
— Ma$e (@VoiceofDaReal) November 1, 2013
@lolojones@trackchick13_ don’t relax your hair boo! You’re beautiful! Be au natural! But do you! You rocks
— Alexxxia (@lexy_mai) November 1, 2013
. @lolojones ma’am you should apologize to @trackchick13_ what you said to her was rude and uncalled for. You need to grow up
— Lauren Gayden (@MsBoss788) November 1, 2013
@lolojones If you can’t see how telling a woman of African decent she needs a relaxer, despite her admiration of you, is an issue…
— clarke (@radicalhearts) November 1, 2013
@lolojones you were disrespectful. A fan tried to pay tribute & you basically told her to get it right. That’s rude.
— Nichole (@tnwhiskeywoman) November 1, 2013
And what did Jones say in response? Did she express awareness, apology or regret?
Of course not. She created a false equivalency and insinuated that critics of her little “joke” are hypocrites:
If i had curly hair& she had hers straight and I told her to get a curly perm to mimic no one would cared but the other way ppl flip. #noted
— Lolo Jones (@lolojones) November 1, 2013
Read more https://newsone.com/2751042/lolo-jones-relaxer-halloween-twitter/