Lifestyle

Chanel is under fire after Jeffree Star shared a controversial product with his fans

LifestylePublished May 16, 2017
By Nicola Dall'Asen
jeffree star chanelJeffree Star/Instagram

Jeffree Star and Chanel have pretty much always been a match made in heaven — Star is known to dress in head-to-toe Chanel and he reviews the brand's products often. 

But his latest Chanel purchase isn't paying off for anyone.

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jeffree star boomerang
Jeffree Star/Instagram

Star posted a $1,325 Chanel boomerang to his social media this weekend and the comments section went up in flames.

The pricey wood and resin boomerang is listed as an accessory in the brand's 2017 spring/summer pre-collection lookbook.

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jeffree star snapchat
Jeffree Star/Snapchat

Until Star shared it, no one seemed to know the product even existed.

But after he did, the news spread like wildfire.

And a good portion of the internet took issue with the item's appropriation of Aboriginal Australian culture.

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boomerang aboriginee
Wikicommons

To be clear: What many consider to be "Australian culture" and actual Aboriginal Australian culture are two very different things.

Much like the United States, Australia is a nation of European immigrants who took land from its indigenous people, Aboriginal Australians. 

Aboriginal Australians have their own culture, which is very distinct and wildly different than the rest of Australia, and that culture is the birthplace of the boomerang.

It's important to realize that Australia is also a nation in which racism is still very prevalent, and Aboriginal Australians have been heavily oppressed in their own native country since pretty much day one. For example, Chanel's version of the Aboriginal symbol costs 10% of a real Aboriginal's annual income.

Often mass produced as a leisure product, the boomerang is an Aboriginal Australian symbol that has been robbed of its meaning.

They were invented to be, and are still used as, hunting weapons.

So technically, Chanel is selling weapon as an accessory.

Star's past racial remarks also came up in the controversy.

Though he's put out statements that he's a changed person, a video of Star joking about throwing acid on a Black woman to lighten her skin continues to haunt him.

Star put out this tweet in response to the backlash, and later clarified that his response was in reference to the price of the boomerang only.

He has yet to say anything regarding the boomerang's cultural significance.

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chanel boomerang
Chanel

Chanel, on the other hand, issued a statement saying it "regrets" making the boomerang.

The item is still available on its website, however.

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jeffree star
Jeffree Star/Instagram

Leave it to Jeffree Star to spark an international cultural debate via Snapchat.

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