Actress Amandla Stenberg in bizarre race rant at Kylie Jenner for 'appropriating black culture' with her cornrows but failing to use her celebrity 'to help black Americans'

By Iona Kirby For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:11 EST, 12 July 2015 | Updated: 03:24 EST, 13 July 2015

Kylie Jenner got into an online row with The Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg on Saturday.

The 17-year-old reality star was slammed by the actress on Instagram after sharing a photo which showed her with her hair in cornrows.

Amandla accused Kylie of 'appropriating black culture' without using her celebrity 'to help black Americans'.

Scroll down for video  

Online feud: Kylie Jenner was slammed by Amandla Stenberg, who accused her of 'appropriating black culture', after sharing this photo on Instagram on Saturday

The 16-year-old commented on Kylie's photo: 'When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter.'

Kylie, who is believed to be dating rapper Tyga, replied: 'Mad if I don't, Mad if I do…. Go hang w Jaden or something.'

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was referring to the fact that Amandla, who rose to fame playing Rue in The Hunger Games, went to prom with Jaden Smith in May.

Amandla Stenberg's rant 'Don't Cash Crop My Cornrows'

Speaking out: The Hunger Games actress, seen here last month, called Kylie out for wearing cornrows but 'failing to use her position of power to help black Americans'

Kylie was widely rumoured to have dated the After Earth star, also 17, but they never confirmed their relationship.

The teen had shared a selfie showing off her cornrows on Saturday morning, which saw her clad in a grey crop top and matching tracksuit bottoms. She captioned the photo: 'I woke up like disss.'

Later that day, Kylie had taken out the braids and was seen with her dark hair pulled into a bun as she stepped out in Beverly Hills.

Changing it up: The 17-year-old had removed her cornrows when she was spotted later that day

'Go hang w Jaden or something': The reality star had a terse response to Amandla, who went to prom with her rumoured ex-boyfriend in May 

Amandla made headlines earlier this year when she released an intelligent and thought-provoking video discussing the issues of cultural appropriation, posing the question: 'What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we love black culture?'

In the clip, titled Don't Cash Crop My Cornrows, the teen says: 'Appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated but is deemed as high-fashion, cool or funny when the privileged take it for themselves.

'Hip hop stems from a black struggle, it stems from jazz and blues, styles of music African-Americans created to retain humanity in the face of adversity. On a smaller scale but in a similar vein, braids and cornrows are not merely stylistic. They’re necessary to keep black hair neat.'

Making waves: Amandla made her case in a stirring video released this past year

There are others: Kim Kardashian was seen with her hair braided in cornrows when she stepped out following a gym run in Los Angeles in 2010

Another example: Amandla also shared an image of Kendall Jenner in her video, who had her hair braided in cornrows

More recently: Miley Cyrus has been recently photographed with cornrows as well - here the actress is pictured in Studio City on Sunday

Previously: Katy Perry had her hair braided in cornrows for a scene in the 2014 music video, This Is How We Do

Citing stars such as Iggy Azalea, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry, she adds: 'Pop stars and icons adopted black culture as a way of being edgy and gaining attention.'

After starring in the first Hunger Games movie as Katniss's ally, Amandla appeared in the TV show Sleepy Hollow and voiced a character in Rio 2.

Her upcoming series Mr. Robinson, which premieres in August, sees Craig Robinson star as a musician who becomes a music teacher at a middle school in a big city. 

Amandla Stenberg shows off hair at Women in Film event

Thought-provoking: Amandla made headlines earlier this year when she released an intelligent video discussing the issues of cultural appropriation

Former flame?: Kylie and Jaden, seen here together in November 2013, never confirmed their relationship

Three years ago: The 16-year-old found fame portraying Rue in 2012's The Hunger Games

Comments (1597)

Share what you think

• Newest
• Oldest
• Best rated
• Worst rated

 View all

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

 View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now