American rapper Asian Doll has found herself in hot water after selling tickets to her ‘Indian-themed’ birthday party next week.
The party, called “Asian Doll Escapes To India”, was announced on her social media with a flyer and Arabic music playing in the background. According to the invitation, traditional Indian attire is required to enter.
The rapper, whose real name is Misharron Jermeisha Allen, hails from Dallas, Texas and is notably not of Indian origin.
On her Instagram account, which has since been deactivated, she revealed the party invitation along with pictures of Indian celebrities in traditional clothing, like Ibrahim Ali Khan (son of Saif Ali Khan), Malaika Arora, Priyanka Chopra, and more.
The party has been scheduled for 7 December and promises live performances, hookah, and “many celebrity friends” in attendance. Despite growing criticism of cultural appropriation, tickets are still available on platforms like Eventbrite, being sold for $40-$60.
This isn’t the first time the rapper has been accused of cultural appropriation. Aside from her misleading name Asian Doll, she has drawn criticism in the past with a Tweet that labelled Indian food “nasty”.
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I stretched the taste part but that’s basically the same thing if you ask me pic.twitter.com/dSrhax4rCW
— 🌻 (@itstrahuna) November 28, 2021
Social media users were quick to point out the rapper was clubbing together Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures, and she responded to the backlash with the party announcement set to different music.
Asian Doll picking music for her indian themed party: https://t.co/AvBncEPD41
— most hated (@chernobyldenier) November 28, 2021
Lebanese music
Black woman calling herself Asian Doll
“Indian themed” party
At an event in ATL, USA.— micheal.jpeg (@mikey_esquire) November 28, 2021
Asian doll is reducing Indian culture to Bollywood, generalizing and mixing different cultures disrespectfully, disrespectful toward native americans+others, as much as she claims to like Indian culture she’s not appreciating, she’s appropriating#Asiandollculturevulture
— (ia)🧈Suga Minaj ✍🏻 NM5⁷ (@MarajKey) November 28, 2021
So far, Asian Doll remains steadfast in going through with the party, tweeting that she would not apologise and the party is “10000% gonna still happen.”