In a video uploaded to her 20-year-old sister Bella’s Instagram story, Gigi Hadid was seen picking up a cookie that had a Buddha face on it and then squinting her eyes to mock the face.
Resonate writer Sarina Wang called her actions “extremely racist” saying, “making fun of “chinky eyes” has real-world repercussions. As an individual who has grown up with monolids, I have faced numerous comments asking “why I was always squinting” or “if I could open my eyes”. ” Fans took to Twitter to express their outrage, branding Hadid’s actions as racist.
Gigi’s first reaction to seeing the cookie was to mock it’s eyes as a “joke,” if that isn’t racist then idk what to tell you lmao.
— hana (@okayaimh) February 6, 2017
“gigi was joking so its not offensive”
but what was there to joke about? the fact that she was joking is the reason why its offensive dummy— z (@zainzayns) February 5, 2017
Gigi literally mocked that buddha cookie by squinting her eyes to be “asian” Thats now funny and its disrespectful
— 菊花 (@zelocream) February 5, 2017
One angry fan included Agents of Shield’s Chloe Bennet. In an Instagram post, Bennet wrote that people would make fun of her for “being Chinese” and for “having Asian eyes”, which made her “feel horrible”.
“Like, just BEING ME was a joke,” added Bennet, before directing her frustration towards Hadid. “It hurts my heart to see someone like you, a beautiful young woman with so much influence, act in this inconsiderate way. This does not make you a bad person or racist, however, it does make you ignorant to the pain that your actions can cause others.”
