During a Louisville City FC game in Kentucky on June 12, Jack Harlow showed up wearing a bonnet. Many were quick to criticize Harlow for wearing the bonnet, citing cultural appropriation and the double standard for Black women, per Teen Vogue.
A bonnet serves a functional purpose in Black communities. They maintain moisture, prevent frizz and dry hair, and protect textured hair from the elements. They aren’t considered style statements, actually quite the opposite, as Jack Harlow may have used it for.
While Harlow has yet to comment on the social media criticism, he also has curly hair. Perhaps he was using it to protect his hair, something that a bonnet could help with. As long as he wasn't appropriating the “Black aesthetic,” or using traditionally Black items as a white person and appropriating them to look a certain way. But that has yet to be heard.
Often, Black women are criticized for wearing a bonnet in public. This same double standard didn't apply to Harlow as a white man. People have criticized women for wearing bonnets in public, calling it unkempt or unpresentable. However, the same stigma isn't applied to Black men either for wearing durags in public. This criticism of bonnets is rooted in anti-Blackness as “an unapologetic symbol of Black culture and are integral to Back hair care,” according to Teen Vogue.
Many Twitter users were split on the issue. Some said that he should take the bonnet off, seeing as he's a white man. Others disagreed, saying it doesn't really matter what the rapper puts on his head at the end of the day.
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