(CNN)Bruno Mars found himself caught in a heated debate about cultural appropriation over the weekend after an activist accused the “24K Magic” star of being a culture vulture profiting off of traditionally black music.
“Cultural appropriation,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.”
Bruno Mars’ mother is Filipina and his father is Puerto Rican and Jewish
But the Grammy-winning star is known for blending elements of funk, soul, R&B, reggae and hip-hop in his music — genres that are historically and traditionally African-American.
Here’s the two-minute video that started it all:
https://twitter.com/hannahmburrell/status/971924903174733826/video/1
“Bruno Mars 100% is a cultural appropriator. He is not black, at all, and he plays up his racial ambiguity to cross genres,” writer and activist Seren Sensei said in a clip for “The Grapevine,” a web series that explores African-American issues.
“What Bruno Mars does, is he takes pre-existing work and he just completely, word-for-word recreates it, extrapolates it,” she added. “He does not create it, he does not improve upon it, he does not make it better. He’s a karaoke singer, he’s a wedding singer, he’s the person you hire to do Michael Jackson and Prince covers. Yet Bruno Mars has an Album of the Year Grammy and Prince never won an Album of the Year Grammy.”
