Instagram | @florencepugh

Florence Pugh Apologizes For Past Cultural Appropriation: 'Stupid Doesn't Even Cut It'

Florence Pugh is owning up to her past mistakes.

The Little Women actress apologized for her past use of cultural appropriation in a lengthy Instagram post shared on Friday.

In it, she brought up three past incidents, where she said that “stupid doesn’t even cut it, I was uneducated. I was unread.”

Keep reading for her apology.

The past several weeks have been eye-opening for many celebs.

With the tragic death of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests taking place around the globe, many celebs have been checking their white privilege.

This includes Florence Pugh who recently addressed her use of cultural appropriation in the past.

The Little Women actress issued out a lengthy apology on Instagram on Friday, June 26.

She's been at the center of cultural appropriation a few times before.

The actress began by sharing that she's spent the last month "learning a tidal wave of information."

Instagram | @florencepugh

"Like many, I've read, listened, signed, donated, read again, sssh'd my white fragility and really wanted to trace instances in my life where I have been guilty."

This led her to identify some of the instances where she's been guilty for cultural appropriation.

Instagram | @florencepugh

This includes the time she was 18 and asked a friend if they liked her hairstyle, which was braided into cornrows.

“She began to explain to me what cultural appropriation was, the history and heartbreak over how when Black girls do it they’re mocked and judged, but when white girls do it, it’s only then perceived as cool,” Pugh wrote.

She added that she “could see how Black culture was being so obviously exploited,” but that she “was also defensive and confused, white fragility coming out plain and simple.”

Another example came from when the actress was eight and had "befriended an Indian shop owner" who would share gifts, including their culture.

Instagram | @florencepugh

Soon, she grew obsessed with henna.

“Over the summer of 2017, Bindis and henna became a trend. Every top high street shop was selling their reimagined versions of this culture,” she recalled.

She continued: “No one cared about the origin, a culture was being abused for profit. I felt embarrassed."

Instagram | @florencepugh

While she felt "sadness" for the "small family-run Indian shops all over the country seeing their culture and religion cheapened everywhere," she had believed that she was exempt from the blame back then.

“I wore this culture on my terms only, to parties, at dinner. I too was disrespecting the beauty of the religion that had been taught to me those years ago," she wrote.

Instagram | @florencepugh

The third instance that Pugh shared involved a photo she took when she was 17.

“I braided my hair and painted a beanie with the Jamaican flag colours and went to a friend’s house; proud of my Rastafarian creation."

The next day, she posted the photo with a caption that paraphrased the lyrics to Shaggy’s song ‘Boombastic.'

"I am ashamed of so many things in those few sentences," Pugh wrote.

“At the time, I honestly did not think that I was doing anything wrong."

She continued:

Instagram | @florencepugh

"Growing up as white and privileged allowed me to get that far and not know,” she wrote.

“Stupid doesn’t even cut it, I was uneducated. I was unread.”

“I grew up watching my high profile pop culture idols adopting culture in similar ways, so I didn’t think wrong of doing it too. I now need to be aware that people are looking up to me and I must address my own poor actions,” she wrote.

Instagram | @florencepugh

“Black, Indian, Native American and Asian cultures and religions are constantly used and abused every new shopping season."

"It’s not wrong to appreciate the beauty of a culture but rebranding them for the sake of a fashion trend and a $ most certainly is.”

Instagram | @florencepugh

With this new awareness in mind, the star apologized for all of these past instances of cultural appropriation.

"I’m truly sorry to all of you that were offended for years or even just recently."

Instagram | @florencepugh

"I cannot dismiss the actions I bought into years ago but I believe that we who were blind to such things must acknowledge them and recognize them as our faults, our ignorance and our white privilege and I apologise profusely that it took this long.”

The reaction to Florence's post has been mixed.

Instagram | @florencepugh

While some have accepted her apology, some say that more needs to be done.

Some have even commented that an apology from the star was never necessary in the first place.

Another said that she's being too hard on herself:

Instagram | @florencepugh

"Think more toward class privilege, less about skin colour," added another.

What's your take on Florence's apology? Was her apology sufficient?

Let us know below in the comments!