In 2016, Blake Lively shook up Instagram with one cheeky post from the Cannes Film Festival. Rocking that red carpet look, she threw up a caption that read, “L.A. face with an Oakland booty”—a straight-up nod to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back. Harmless fun, right? Not quite. That lyric landed her in hot water, and the internet quickly clapped back.
What was supposed to be a fun nod to the iconic track turned into a full-blown backlash. Critics called out Blake Lively for being racially insensitive, claiming that the song was originally all about celebrating Black women’s bodies—not meant for a white actress to throw around casually. One user said, “The same body features on whiter or lighter are idolized, but mocked or ridiculed on women of color.” Ouch.
But Blake wasn’t about to back down. She kept that post up, even as the comments section turned into a total war zone. While some peeps threw shade, calling her tone-deaf, others swooped in to defend her, saying, “Girl, you look amazing! Don’t listen to the haters!” The divide was real, but Lively stood her ground like a champ, owning her vibe.
Then, out of nowhere, Sir Mix-A-Lot himself jumped into the convo. And guess what? He had Blake’s back. He was all like, “Wait, why the hate?” He even pointed out that no one lost their cool when Katy Perry and Khloe Kardashian dropped the same line in the past. The rapper said the song was meant to shake up beauty standards, not spark a race debate. “I wrote the song because I wanted all these big magazines to open up a little bit,” he explained.
Blake finally spoke up during her promo tour for The Shallows. She made it clear she didn’t mean to offend anyone. “It’s just about celebrating women’s bodies, and that’s what I was doing,” she said. It was all about owning her pregnancy curves, not stepping into controversial territory for Blake. “I never want to hurt anyone’s feelings or upset anyone. I was celebrating my body,” she added.
Mix-A-Lot backed her up, saying Blake’s post showed how beauty norms were shifting. “Doesn’t that mean the beautiful people have accepted our idea of beautiful?” he asked. For him, Lively’s caption was a sign that society was finally realizing that beauty comes in all shapes.
Ultimately, that Cannes moment was more than just an Instagram post—it was a flashpoint for a bigger conversation about beauty standards, race, and who gets to say what. Lively didn’t delete the post, and both she and Sir Mix-A-Lot turned the whole thing into a reflection on how far we’ve come—or still need to go—when it comes to celebrating all kinds of beauty.
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