TV Producer, Filmmaker and Media Entrepreneur Mo Abudu has called our attention to a derogatory publication by British news channel Sky News, depicting an African hairstyle as “Spiky coronavirus haircut’.

The yarn threading hairstyle worn by black women dates back to the 15th century, but the news agency thought it just started gaining popularity in Africa, hence the comparison with the image of the spike looking virus.

Mo as she is fondly called, shared photos of African women who have used threading on their hair, and urged every African woman to lend their voices to demand the report be corrected.

SKY News has since revised the narrative to a Kenyan hairdresser offering what she calls a ‘corona hairstyle’. Read the write up by MO and see the corrections by SKY News:

Hello beautiful people, ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
A recent publication made by @skynews on Monday 11, May 2020 titled “Spiky coronavirus haircut growing in popularity in Africa – here’s why” ⁣- has come to my attention and here’s what I have to say:⁣
⁣⁣
For starters it’s not a haircut, it’s a hairstyle!!!⁣
⁣
Hair has played a significant role in the culture of ancient African civilizations. It symbolized one’s family background, social status, spirituality, tribe, and marital status.⁣⁣
⁣
As early as the 15th century, different tribes used hair to show one’s social hierarchy. Members of royalty wore elaborate hairstyles as a symbol of their stature. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Another thing to note is that Africa is rich with ancient hair traditions and styles. African threading dated as far back as the late 15th century and is a cherished tradition among women in parts of Nigeria, Ghana, and the entire Sub Saharan Africa.⁣⁣
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Generations of black women have used African Threading to style their hair and straighten it naturally. ⁣
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It is disrespectful to our African culture to say this hairstyle is recently gaining popularity because of the Corona virus or it is similar to a virus ? which is a major devastation to the world at present.⁣
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I would like all African women to send a message to #SkyNews complaining about the post and report. ⁣
⁣⁣
@skynews, on behalf of myself and many other African women who have shown their displeasure of this post, I would like to urge you to take this post down as soon as possible. It is derogatory and condescending to us, our forefathers, our foremothers and generations to come.⁣
⁣
For future reference, @skynews kindly #Swipeleft to see pictures from over the years that shows the beauty of African women and our traditional hairstyles.

 

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Hello beautiful people, ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ A recent publication made by @skynews on Monday 11, May 2020 titled “Spiky coronavirus haircut growing in popularity in Africa – here’s why” ⁣- has come to my attention and here’s what I have to say:⁣ ⁣⁣ For starters it’s not a haircut, it’s a hairstyle!!!⁣ ⁣ Hair has played a significant role in the culture of ancient African civilizations. It symbolized one’s family background, social status, spirituality, tribe, and marital status.⁣⁣ ⁣ As early as the 15th century, different tribes used hair to show one’s social hierarchy. Members of royalty wore elaborate hairstyles as a symbol of their stature. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Another thing to note is that Africa is rich with ancient hair traditions and styles. African threading dated as far back as the late 15th century and is a cherished tradition amongst women in parts of Nigeria, Ghana, and the entire Sub Saharan Africa.⁣⁣ ⁣ Generations of black women have used African Threading to style their hair and straighten it naturally. ⁣ ⁣ It is disrespectful to our African culture to say this hairstyle is recently gaining popularity because of the Corona virus or it is similar to a virus ? which is a major devastation to the world at present.⁣ ⁣ I would like all African women to send a message to #SkyNews complaining about the post and report. ⁣ ⁣⁣ @skynews, on behalf of myself and many other African women who have shown their displeasure of this post, I would like to urge you to take this post down as soon as possible. It is derogatory and condescending to us, our forefathers, our foremothers and generations to come.⁣ ⁣ For future reference, @skynews kindly #Swipeleft to see pictures from over the years that shows the beauty of African women and our traditional hairstyles.

A post shared by Mo Abudu (@moabudu) on May 16, 2020 at 1:03am PDT