Catfishing,” “Blackfishing,” and now “Asianfishing,” the list is endless. Fans are calling out the award-winning pop singer for “asianfishing,” again! When the singer posted pictures from a recent pH๏τo shoot on her Instagram page, she had no idea it would blow up negatively.
Ariana Grande posted up for her 280 million followers, wearing an oversized olive green blazer and a white neck scarf with her hair tied back. The “7 rings” singer didn’t realize her post would meet such backlash that she had to take it down. This isn’t the first time people have called Grande out on “fishing” of any kind.
What Is Asianfishing?
Asianfishing is a variation of Catfishing and Blackfishing, which means pretending to be someone else on social media for gain. This case refers to looking like an Asian to curry favor from the Asian race. Wanna Thompson, a Canadian journalist, coined the term “blackfishing” in 2018 to describe people (often celebrities) of other races (usually Caucasian) who dress like Black people.
Some fans are accusing Ariana Grande of altering her facial features with plastic surgery to look like an Asian woman. Others insist she’s manipulating the lighting and camera angles of her pictures. There’s a minority that insists it’s a makeup thing
A Second Warning
This scenario isn’t Ariana’s first rodeo in the cultural appropriation field. When she dropped her critically acclaimed video “7 rings”, which has one billion YouTube views, in 2018, fans noticed Grande spotting a new tattoo written in Japanese. She intended to spell out “7 Rings” but ended up misspelling it as “Shicrin,” meaning “barbecue grill.”
Unfortunately, the pop star made it worse in her attempt to correct the error. She has since updated the tattoo under the supervision of a Japanese expert.
Oli London Approves
UK-based non-binary influencer who uses they/them pronouns, Oli London, contributed two cents to this scandal. They welcomed Grande to the “Transracial Club” calling her “so cute and Oriental.” London themself is “transracial” and very open about their cosmetic surgery to look like K-Pop group BTS’ Jimin.
They further gush about becoming “King and Queen of Korea together already.” London’s comments seemed to fuel the fire of the plastic surgery rumors concerning Grande.
Was Ariana “Blackfishing”?
In 2018, when the “Side to Side” singer dropped the visuals for her single “7 rings,” fans accused her of blackfishing. The video and music deviated from Grande’s typical ballads as she delivered her twist on trap music alongside Nicki Minaj.
She’s not the only celebrity under public scrutiny for blackfishing. Members of the famous reality TV show family, the Kardashians, have almost all been accused of cultural appropriation except for Kendall and Kourtney, Shang Chi star AKWAFINA is a regular customer in the court of public opinion on blackfishing, with fans attributing her success to acting like an African American.