Serena Williams Calls Out NYC Hotel Over Cotton Plant Display
Tennis icon Serena Williams has voiced her displeasure with a New York City hotel after noticing a cotton plant decoration in one of its hallways.
In a series of Instagram stories, Williams shared a video of the cotton placed in a vase and asked her followers, “How do we feel about cotton as decoration?” She admitted that, for her, it felt uncomfortable.
Her reaction stems from cotton’s painful association with U.S. history, where enslaved African Americans were forced to work under brutal conditions in cotton fields. By 1820, nearly 95% of Black people in the country were enslaved, and the growth of cotton plantations fueled the expansion of slavery.
While showing the decoration, Williams picked at one of the cotton balls, describing it as resembling the cotton used with nail polish remover. She winced, rubbed it against her nail, and then quickly pulled away, calling it “unnatural.”
The 44-year-old was in New York to support the launch of a collaboration between Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand and Nike.
This isn’t the first time Williams has publicly criticized a hotel. In 2024, she called out the Peninsula Paris after she and her children were denied a table at its rooftop restaurant. The hotel later explained that the rooftop was fully booked and apologized for the misunderstanding.
Williams has also recently faced online backlash over a partnership with pharmaceutical company Ro, which produces GLP-1 medications commonly used for weight loss.
