Serena Williams has sparked a heated debate online, not for her tennis achievements or fashion choices, but for something she noticed during a recent trip to New York.
The tennis legend was in the city for Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS launch when she shared a now-deleted Instagram story that quickly went viral. In the clip, Williams showed a cotton plant decoration inside her hotel and admitted it made her feel uneasy.
“Alright everyone, how do we feel about cotton as decoration? Personally for me, it doesn’t feel great,” she said, before plucking one of the cotton balls from the stalk. She later compared the texture to cotton used for nail polish remover, visibly shuddered, and walked away. While she didn’t directly explain why, many linked her discomfort to the painful history of cotton and slavery in America.
Her reaction, however, triggered mixed responses. Some mocked her, pointing out her marriage to Alexis Ohanian, a white man, while others criticized her blonde wig and cotton clothing as hypocritical. Social media trolls also accused her of being “performative” and “overly sensitive,” with one user calling it “a new form of victimization.”
Still, not everyone dismissed her concerns. A number of supporters argued that cotton plant décor is indeed offensive, calling it a subtle reminder of slavery. One Instagram user wrote, “This isn’t about wigs or who she’s married to. This is offensive and definitely a subliminal message.”
So, the debate continues: Was Williams right to call out the cotton decoration, or was it much ado about nothing?
