Top 10 pop stars’ culturally insensitive moments

Since “Wildest Dreams” appeared on Sunday, accusations of cultural insensitivity have been leveled against Taylor Swift and director Joseph Kahn.

The video, featuring Swift and Scott Eastwood doing old school Hollywood glamour in Africa and California, dropped after a preview last week. Since then, NPR came forward to criticize the premise. Specifically, that the music video takes place in Africa, but there aren’t any actual African characters. This combination, the piece explained, smacks of colonialism.

Of course, not all agree, and Kahn since released a statement explaining the concept. "'Wildest Dreams' is a song about a relationship that was doomed, and the music video concept was that they were having a love affair on location away from their normal lives," Kahn said in a statement, courtesy of E! Online. "This is not a video about colonialism but a love story on the set of a period film crew in Africa, 1950."

Kahn further added that the crew behind the video’s production included two African-American members, and that Swift plans to donate the video’s proceeds to the African Parks Foundation.

While the video, likely amongst the controversy, has garnered 16 million views since Sunday, it’s not the first accusations of cultural insensitivity leveled at Swift – or any pop star, for that matter. In fact, over the years, white-washing, cultural appropriation and using ethnic minorities as props have been thrown at top-charting pop stars. So, while Swift and her team have to live this video down, we look back at other similar instances from the past 10 years.

Image Courtesy of INFphoto.com

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Katy Perry – “Unconditionally” at the AMAs

Katy Perry sings this song, supposedly about her devotion to then-beau John Mayer, while playing to a submissive Asian stereotype.

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Lana Del Rey – “Ride” Music Video

This video serves as a note to all pop stars everywhere: Never wear a Native American head dress.

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Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”

We get it, Taylor – you’re not a pop star like the other girls. And that’s why your attempts at seeming “urban” just come off so awkwardly here.

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Lily Allen – “Hard Out Here”

Lily Allen’s comeback attempted to send a message about unrealistic expectations for women. Unfortunately, the lyrics got lost amongst the fact that the video features Black backup dancers, essentially in prop mode, surrounding the pop star.

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Miley Cyrus – “We Can’t Stop”

Miley Cyrus turned over a new career leaf with twerking and this track. This is, perhaps, the first and most egregious example of using minority backup dancers as props.

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Avril Lavigne – “Hello Kitty”

Sexual lyrics aside, this track is about Avril’s love for Hello Kitty. The music video, unfortunately, turns into a mess of unironic cultural appropriation.

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Gwen Stefani – “Harajuku Girls”

Roughly 10 years ago, the No Doubt singer embarked on a solo career and pushed her fashion brand at every opportunity. What resulted – this song and TV appearances with mute Japanese girls in tow – is an example of what not to do, ever.

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Iggy Azalea - Everything

She’s an Australian girl who raps like she’s from the South, and then appeared in a sari for her “Bounce” music video. At this point, no one believes anything about her is authentic, and there’s a good chance her music career will suffer.

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Selena Gomez – “Come and Get It” at the MTV Movie Awards

The worst part is, the cultural appropriation has no purpose. Selena Gomez sang her hit in a bindi and sari, and audience then wondered, “Why?”

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Lana Del Rey – “Tropico”

Lana Del Rey built her career based upon a “Lolita in the Hood” image. But, as many now know, she grew up as a private school-attending rich girl in upstate New York. Short film “Tropico,” released between her first and second albums, takes this character to offensive proportions.