Coco Austin accused of cultural appropriation for saying, ‘I helped pave the way for thick girls’

Coco Austin is defending her opinion that she popularized “thick girls” after fans accused the model of cultural appropriation.

On Sunday, the 38-year-old mother and wife of rapper Ice-T posted a throwback photo of herself wearing a neon-green string bikini. “I would like to shed light to almost 21 years of modeling,” the mother of one wrote on the post. “I don’t post much about it & new followers don’t even know I had a career in modeling they just see a wife, mother and someone that was on reality TV but just like every actor, singer, rapper, entertainer I’m proud of what I’ve done.”

Austin wrote, “I feel people should know it wasn’t easy. I helped pave the way for thick girls during the skinny genre (during the Kate Moss days what they call the waif era) to be noticed as beautiful. This was back before social media when magazines were popping, back before Kim K., Nicki Minaj. (I mention them because young people see pop culture as the history makers but they need to know it started somewhere before them, this was also back before the plastic surgery craze.”

Calling out J.Lo and Anna Nicole Smith, Austin continued, “To have booty it was considered to be fat in the modeling world. But I helped change the minds of what booty was. Today it’s a normal thing to see all different shapes and sizes, no one even thinks about it anymore. I helped history. I don’t want to toss it aside like it was nothing…I’d like to think some of my modeling was meaningful…”

The photo received almost 147K likes, but many fans objected to Austin’s taking credit for the influx of curvy models such as Ashley Graham and Hunter McGrady.

“I’m just tired of white women not owning up to the fact that they use black women and WOC in general as their muse,” wrote one person, “and I’m not saying white women can’t be thick. Of course, they can but I hate how ppl used to make fun of WoC for having big asses but as soon as a white girl does it it’s hot?…Coco needs to realize her privilege.”

Someone else wrote, “I’m sorry but that’s not true she didn’t pave the way for sh*t. It’s a lot of women who modeled during the 90s and early 2000s who were thick its just that they were in the urban market The internet changed the game becuz a lot of women now are getting gigs from pics off social media.” And another wrote, “White women want credit for using black culture how pathetic.”

Some people did commend Austin for her “honesty and transparency” and for promoting an atypical beauty standard, but on Monday, she updated her post with the following:

“This was posted yesterday & ALL comments were positive until race was brought up today. Let me remind you 20 years ago there were not a lot of white girls w/ thick bodies in the modeling game. They didn’t consider my body type as the standard therefore It was harder to work in the industry. I was one of the 1st white models to break the mold & go mainstream with my body type and to let people know its OK to be curvy in the modeling world. Today curvy is the norm but when I first started out it wasn’t. Yesterday I felt I explained this thoroughly but I see some of you needed more details.”

Cultural appropriation is often called out in the world of fashion, with plenty of instances in 2017. In September, Kendall and Kylie Jenner pulled the “Lee Leather Clutch,” designed like a Chinese-food takeout box, from their line, Kendall + Kylie, after a public backlash.

A few months earlier, the social media reaction was fierce after a model from Giorgio Armani’s Fall 2017 Couture show was photographed with a wrapped hairstyle resembling a “doobie,” a look traditionally worn by women of color.

And a slew of Instagrammers — including Kim Kardashian — have been called out for wearing “Blackface.” Kardashian ultimately addressed the outcry on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, saying, “Oh my gosh. I’m seeing these photos for the campaign, the ones that we took. And people online are saying that I’m doing blackface but I would never in a million years be disrespectful and do that.” The reality star added, “I get it, I was super tanned, the lighting was really moody so I get why people might say that, but I don’t want to give people the reason to say anything negative. I would never disrespect anyone.”

In the past, Austin has sparked controversy for taking fashion cues from other cultures. In July, when she showcased braids, a style she called “Da Coco Swoop,” she was reminded that Beyoncé recently wore the style (dubbed “Lemonade Braids”), which has long been worn by black women.

Eventually, Ice-T defended his wife by calling the reaction to her hairstyle “Dumb.”

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

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• Fox News meteorologist with ‘distracting legs’ responds to body shamer

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