Beyonce and Coldplay are being accused on Twitter of appropriating Indian culture in the music video for their new collaboration song, “Hymn For The Weekend.” The video, which was filmed in Mumbai, features the band performing in the streets during a Holi festival while Beyonce in decked out in elaborate Indian garb. See the video below.

 

Although the video is very clearly intended to be a celebration of Indian culture, many Twitter users feel Beyonce’s lavish portrayal of an Indian woman to be offensive. A person with the handle @SpoiledHobo tweeted, “The Coldplay video is beaut. It’s artistic and stunning. But Beyonce wearing ‘Indian style’ jewellery and clothes is NOT OKAY.” A fan named @nyunouis wrote, “Yikes that video with Coldplay and Beyonce is soooo disappointing…. why can’t they film without appropriating culture.”

 

Referencing Bollywood superstar Sonam Kapoor, who makes a very brief cameo in the video, Twitter user @mxylotos asked, “why did they have beyonce wear all that indian attire when they literally hired an indian actress?” Another user named @RasgullaRani shared a similar sentiment, tweeting, “If Coldplay wanted to appreciate my culture, they could have replaced Beyonce’s cultural appropriating character with a Bollywood actress.”

 

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  Despite the fact that Beyonce is one of the most popular singers in the world, a person with the account name @TheAffinityMag argued, “Just because it’s Beyonce doesn’t mean she can’t do wrong. She is appropriating.” And after watching the video, a person named @benadryI noted, “I’m here speechless shaking my head at what’s in store for Beyonce today.” 

There were, however, many other Twitter users who defended Beyonce and Coldplay’s new video, saying it was made with the best of intentions and is meant to celebrate Indian heritage. Watch “Hymn For The Weekend” below to see what all the fuss is about.

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