Doja Cat criticised for 'appropriating Native American lore' in new merchandise
Doja Cat has released a brand new merchandise line to accompany her new album Scarlet but fans were quick to call out the "insensitivities" in the products.
Her new album is full of dark motifs and references to various monster lore. In the music video for Demons Doja is even transformed into a dark creature with horns, giving off a chilling horror appearance. Her new T-shirts for sale reference this unusual artistic choice and also mocks her recent controversies.
Probably the harshest complaint from fans is against a T-shirt which states: "Welcome to Hollywood. Beware of skin walkers. For help or to report a sighting visit www.dojacat.com." It featured a photo of Doja next to one of her music video appearance, implying that the creature from the video was a skin walker.
Doja's fans aren't impressed with her new merch collection (Doja Cat)In Navajo Native American culture, skin walkers are a sort of witch that can transform itself into an animal. The creatures are believed to have values that conflict with that of the Navajo customs and perform harmful magic. In reality, not much is known about the full lore of skin walkers as, typically, the Navajo people are reluctant to share too much of the information.
The Navajo people have asked non-Natives to avoid appropriating the term and likeness of the skin walker. Native American academic Adrienne Keene explained on the site Native Appropriations: "We as Native people are now opened up to a barrage of questions about these beliefs and traditions...but these are not things that need or should be discussed by outsiders. At all. I'm sorry if that seems 'unfair', but that's how our cultures survive."
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Fans claimed that Doja's merchandise was appropriative of the Native belief of skin walkers. One fan even pointed out that Doja could have found another term like "boogeyman" to use and still make the same point.
The merch is proving to be controversial (Doja Cat)While that may be the most egregious offensive mistake Doja made with the new batch of T-shirtds, fans don't think it was the only one. Some were annoyed that Doja appeared to copy merch from rock band Ghost. One posted a side by side of Doja and Ghost's merch, writing: "I’m just pointing out the similarities I see. I’m not sh***ing on Ghost idk where ppl are seeing that. It just oddly enough looked like Ghost merch to me."
Much of the merch had "Recovering Doja Cat Fan" written on it. Plus, a tank top said: "Haha so are we just not gonna talk about the whole 'kittenz' thing?"
Both of these statements were in reference to a recent controversy where Doja slammed her fans for their choice of fanbase name, Kittenz. The musician left many feeling as though she didn't care about her fans.
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