For British singer Adele, 2020 has been her year.
This year images have popped up revealing the 32-year-old’s ever-slimming figure.
On Sunday she posted a picture of herself wearing a string bikini with a Jamaican flag print and black and white tie-dye legging that showed exactly what people have been wanting to see.
The Instagram post simply said, "Happy what would be Notting Hill Carnival my beloved London."
Even though most of her fans were proud of her transformation, some were more verbal about the fact that she was wearing a Jamaican flag as well as her hair styled in Bantu knots.
The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event that bares significance in Black British culture.
Regardless of the fact that Adele was seemingly paying homage to black culture by styling her hair in Bantu knots, a hairstyle predominantly worn by black women, and wearing the Jamaican flag, this caused much outrage amongst the black social media community.
Many accused her of cultural appropriation.
Authur Frederick Joseph tweeted: “Black people have been through enough in 2020.”
“Black people have been through enough in 2020.”
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) August 30, 2020
Adele: pic.twitter.com/4RwWF7B0Ou
Followed by the below tweet:
White people: “It’s not appropriation, it’s appreciation.”
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) August 31, 2020
Black people defending them: “Yeah, y’all complain about everything.”
The issue: pic.twitter.com/D3t0HWvRQu
Another black author express outrage by stating the following in his Twitter post: ’’If 2020 couldn't get anymore bizarre, Adele is giving us Bantu knots and cultural appropriation that nobody asked for.’’
If 2020 couldn't get anymore bizarre, Adele is giving us Bantu knots and cultural appropriation that nobody asked for.
— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) August 30, 2020
This officially marks all of the top white women in pop as problematic.
Hate to see it. pic.twitter.com/N9CqPqh7GX
Yet on the flip side there were followers who came to her defence and saw nothing wrong with her choice of outfit.
Here are few of the tweets:
how are non-Jamaicans getting mad at Adele when Jamaicans aren’t even mad themselves. This is normal carnival attire. Let Adele sing HELLO PON DI ADA SIDE pic.twitter.com/zwec9Ssq3i
— UNCENSORED ICON 💡✋ (@SOUNDMOUTH1) August 31, 2020
Everyone who is disrespecting Adele for taking part in the Notting-hill Carnival experience is an idiot. You should be supporting Carnival like she is. I HATE bully’s.
— Donae'O (@donaeo) August 31, 2020