Singer Lana Del Rey has been taking a beating on social media for wearing a mesh mask to a book signing in Los Angeles instead of a regular cloth or paper one.
According to Fox News, Del Rey was in L.A. on Saturday to greet fans over her new poetry book, “Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass.”
“I can’t wait to see you guys,” Del Rey said in an Instagram video that featured her wearing the sparkly mesh mask.
Del Rey’s mask may or may not have just been transparent material over mesh threading. Either way, people on social media immediately jumped to the worst of conclusions and scolded her.
“Girl that’s not a mask. you make good music but poor decisions,” said one Instagram follower.
“Girl not that mesh mask r u kidding me,” said another follower.
“Is that a mask? I think that mask does nothing,” said another.
The comments were overwhelmingly negative with few defenders in Del Rey’s corner. Neither the singer nor her representatives have publicly responded to the controversy. Del Rey’s sister, Caroline, later claimed that she tested negative for COVID-19 and practiced social distancing at the book signing.
“However, a collection of photos tweeted by celebrity news blog Pop Crave shows the singer stood rather close to some attendees,” reported Fox News. “Last month, Del Rey was featured on the cover of Interview Magazine with another bedazzled mesh-like face mask.”
Del Rey took on a wave of feminist and social justice scorn this past May when she dared to call out her critics for hypocritically dismissing her music for not being feminist enough while promoting the likes of Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, and Beyoncé.
“Now that Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, f***ing, cheating, etc — can I please go back to singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful by being in love even if the relationship is not perfect, or dancing for money — or whatever I want — without being crucified or saying that I’m glamorizing abuse?” Del Rey asked.
“I am fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize abuse when in reality I’m just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all over the world,” she continued.
Despite her passionate plea for fairness, critics on social media dinged Del Rey for criticizing Cardi B and Beyoncé — women of color.
“I don’t know who was giving Lana Del Rey a hard time but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Black women. Girl, sing your little cocaine carols and leave us alone,” tweeted cultural critic and writer Jamilah Lemieux.
“I think Lana’s post would have been fine if she hadn’t compared herself to a group of mostly black women with the clear tone that she thinks she’s been treated worse by the media when that’s observably untrue,” tweeted writer and activist Shon Faye.