Adele has caused quite the stir on social media, with a photo she uploaded to her Instagram page to commemorate what would have been the weekend of Notting Hill Carnival.
In the photo, the 32-year-old singer showed off her incredible weight loss in a bikini bearing the Jamaican flag, while her hair was tied in Bantu knots – a traditional African hairstyle.
Adele wrote: “Happy what would be Notting Hill Carnival my beloved London,” in the caption, after the annual event was cancelled this year and celebrated online instead.
While some fans praised the singer for her weight loss and acknowledgement of her home town, others accused her of cultural appropriation for her choice of outfit and hairstyle, the Mirror Online reports.
One wrote: “Adele dropped that weight and said it’s time for her cultural appropriation era.”
Another follower said: “Dear white people, please just be yourselves and stop it for good with cultural appropriation. Adele the bantu knots were unnecessary. The Jamaican flag bikini top was unnecessary… Please just stop it.”
One said: “Black women are discriminated against for wearing cultural hairstyles like bantu knots and locs but white people are not, that’s not fair and that’s why people are p****d off.”
Others told Adele she had ‘broken the internet’ for other reasons as she showed off the full extent of her recent seven stone weight loss for the first time.
Following her split from husband of three years, Simon Konecki, back in April 2019, Adele took some time away from the limelight to throw herself into a healthy eating and fitness regime.
She then stunned fans when she was pictured looking almost unrecognisable in January this year as she laughed on a beach with pals including former One Direction singer Harry Styles.