Gwen Stefani faces backlash after saying in an interview that she “I’m Japanese” while defending her Harajuku era

Gwen Stefani sparked backlash this week after saying “I’m Japanese” in a recent interview.

“I said, ‘My god, I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it,'” Stefani told Allure in an interview published this week about how she reacted to visiting Tokyo’s Harajuku district and witnessing his fashion counterculture when she moved to been asked for decades. old accusations of cultural appropriation.

The previous backlash stemmed from Stefani’s album Love. Fishing rod. Music. Baby” in 2004, the fragrance line “Harajuku Lovers” and her LAMB clothing line, all of which were heavily inspired by Japanese fashion and culture.

Stefani described himself as a “super fan” in the interview published on Tuesday. She went on to explain: “If [people are] criticizing me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, I just don’t feel like it feels right.”

BLAKE SHELTON BECOMES EMOTIONAL ABOUT ‘THE VOICE’ EXIT, MEETS WIFE GWEN STEFANI: ‘I WON THE ULTIMATE PRIZE’

Gwen Stefani sparked backlash this week after saying “I’m Japanese” in a recent interview.
(Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

She continued, “I think it was a beautiful time of creativity… a time of ping-pong between Harajuku culture and American culture… [It] should be okay to take inspiration from other cultures, because if we’re not allowed to do that, it divides people, doesn’t it?”

The interviewer said Stefani called herself “Japanese” more than once in the interview and at one point described herself as “a little bit like an Orange County girl, a little bit like a Japanese girl, a little bit like an English girl.”

A rep for Stefani did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. In the Allure article, the author notes that Stefani’s rep came forward after the interview and “indicated” that they “misunderstood what Stefani was trying to convey,” but refused “an on-hand comment or clarification of those remarks.” to hand over.”

Gwen Stefani’s “Harajuku Girls” wore bags from her LAMB clothing line in 2008.
(Photo by Marcel Thomas/FilmMagic)

Backlash on social media was swift, with people writing, “If Gwen Stefani claims Japanese heritage because her father worked at Yamaha, I claim minifigure heritage because my father worked at LEGO” and “here’s one.” Example of what NOT to say in an interview. “

GWEN STEFANI ACCUSED OF CULTURAL ADOPTION IN NEW MUSIC VIDEO ‘LIGHT MY FIRE’

Another said: “Gwen Stefani should have taken her own advice here: don’t speak.”

“Gwen Stefani used Asian women as props to help her get rich and her response is… ‘I’m Japanese????'” a fourth wrote.

Gwen Stefani and Harajuku Girls.
(Jon Furniss/WireImage)

But others defended the star.

One person said: “Kid, leave Gwen Stefani alone. I grew up in NYC. I’ve been inspired by many different cultures. If she also loves other cultures, then that should be a positive, not a negative.”

“Wow y’all trying to sell your magazines all I can see from Gwen is that she really loves Japanese culture as much as she loves my Mexican culture,” said another.

The person appeared to be referring to Stefani’s comments in the Allure interview, in which the author noted that Stefani said she also identifies with the Hispanic and Latino communities from her hometown of Anaheim, California.

“The music, the way the girls wore their makeup, the clothes they wore, that was my identity,” Stefani shared. “Even though I’m Italian American – Irish or whatever I am – that’s what I became because that was my people, right?”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP