Crazy that in 2023, we still see celebrities slipping up in pretty major ways. One of the positive outcomes of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 was encouraging Americans to more thoroughly confront the country’s past of racism, and the normalized, internalized racism that has existed since slavery.
This confrontation was a long time coming for the U.S. and had been building for a few years with takedowns of iconography deemed insensitive. Now, three years after BLM, everyone should know to be more culturally self-aware and sensitive. Everyone except Heather Thomson, apparently.
Longtime Real Housewives of New York fans may remember Heather as a main cast member from Seasons 5-7, and a guest and “friend of” in several seasons onward. Unfortunately for Heather, her RHONY fame wasn’t nearly enough to save her from being called out.
Heather hangs Blackamoor figure on her door
Between December 19 and 20, Heather posted a picture to her Instagram that was met with immediate backlash. TikTok user thekempire posted a video about the situation. As the TikTok user explained, Heather’s post drew so much controversy because it showed her hanging a Blackamoor figure on her door.
As Merriam Webster explains, Blackamoor is a style of figure and art depicting dark-skinned figures in ornate forms. More often than not, Blackamoor depicts African-American slaves specifically. Before the post was deleted, one Instagram user commented excerpts from a House Beautiful article, describing Blackamoor as “unacceptable … in the past” and “unacceptable today.”
The picture was taken down and replaced with an IG post of Heather facepalming, but that hardly dispelled criticism. If anything, that just created more slamming as fans asked her if she’d address the picture or apologize for it. Even Heather’s fans couldn’t defend her actions, just hoping she’d take accountability for the original post. Right now, the silence is deafening.
TELL US – WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO HEATHER’S POST? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM HER NOW?
