Lupita Nyong’o is calling out a British fashion magazine for digitally altering her hair.
According to the actress, Grazia UK changed the appearance of her hair to make it appear slicker and less textured.
"Disappointed that @GraziaUK edited out & smoothed my hair to fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like," she tweeted.
BBC News reported that Nyong'o addressed the change in the photos in an Instagram post Thursday.
“As I have made clear so often in the past with every fiber of my being, I embrace my natural heritage and despite having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too,” Nyong’o wrote. “Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are.
“I am disappointed that @graziauk invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like. Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hair style and texture.”
Nyong’o included a photo of Grazia’s Nov. 2017 cover alongside two photos that appear to be the original, unedited shots. Her coily hair is slicked back into a low, textured ponytail.
She included the hashtag #dtmh, which stands for “Don’t Touch My Hair,” a phrase that is also the title of a song from Solange Knowles’ album, “A Seat at the Table.”
Grazia has since apologized for the cover in an Instagram post of its own.
“Grazia is committed to representing diversity throughout its pages and apolgises unreservedly to Lupita Nyong’o,” the publication said in a statement on Friday.
“Grazia magazine would like to make it clear that at no point did they make an editorial request to the photographer for Lupita Nyong’o’s hair to be altered on this week’s cover, nor did we alter it ourselves. But we apologise unreservedly for not upholding the editorial standards in ensuring that we were aware of all alterations that had been made.”
Nyong'o's callout of Grazia comes after Knowles criticized "Evening Standard" magazine for editing out her hair on the cover of its publication in October. The singer posed for the magazine with blonde cornrows that were topped with a tall, blonde, braided halo.
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