Trolls bullied Olympic gymnast Gabrielle Douglas throughout the 2016 Rio games. 

Critics chided the 20-year-old for not placing her hand over heart during the National Anthem. Haters chastised the gold medalist for not seeming enthused enough when her teammates won gold and silver medals in the all-around competition. Worst of all, many, including her fellow Black-Americans, taunted Douglas for not having "neat" and "respectable" hair while flipping on bars and beams.

Their unnecessary remarks took a toll on Douglas, as she explained to ESPN.

"I tried to stay off the internet because there's just so much negativity," Douglas said after her final Olympics competition. "Either it was about my hair or my hand not over my heart [on the medal podium] or I look depressed. ... It was hurtful. It was hurtful. It was. It's been kind of a lot to deal with."

Thankfully, many high-profile folks, like comedian Leslie Jones, have bombarded Douglas with praise and love. Now, Cardi B., star of "Love & Hip-Hop New York," is doing the same. 

The emerging rapper created the powerful #BlackLooksMatter hashtag to explain why criticizing Douglas' hair is racist.

In a viral Instagram post, the blunt reality star said that it's normal for Black girls and women to have messy hair, especially when they've been sweating. Criticizing Douglas — and insisting that Black women have hair that needs to be tamed — is cultural ignorance.

"And it really disgusts me how a lot of you Black females and a lot of you Spanish females was coming at [Gabrielle Douglas and Simone Biles] saying their hair was not done," Cardi B. said. "Their hair was done. It was brushed. The problem was that they sweated out. And this is what happens to our hair when it sweats out."

"If Black lives matter to y’all so much, then Black looks, afro looks, should matter to y'all, too," she added.

Cardi B. is right. Black women, including Douglas, are routinely criticized for their hair — especially when it's natural.

Far too many schools, jobs, and even the military, have attempted to enact policies that discriminate against natural hair. In 2014, the army updated AR 670-1, its standard grooming policy, according to The New York Times. While there isn't supposed to be a racial split in the policy, one particular section banned cornrows, braids, locs, and even twists.

The Congressional Black Caucus sent defense secretary Chuck Hagel a memo that called the new policy "offensive" and "biased." A White House petition asking president Obama's administration to review the policy gathered over 17,000 signatures.

Eventually, Hagel rolled back the policy.

"Each service reviewed its hairstyle policies to ensure standards are fair and respectful while also meeting out military requirements," Hagel wrote in a statement. "As a result of these reviews the army, navy, and air force determined changes were necessary to their service grooming regulations to include additional authorized hairstyles."

These attitudes about Black hair permeate everywhere, even on the Olympics stage. That's why #BlackLooksMatter is so important.

Ignore the cordones in getting then shits handle on Monday ..a Bihh been under some stress

A video posted by Cardi B Official IG (@iamcardib) on

"Y'all are so used to us perming our motherfucking hair, y’all not letting us love our real fucking hair," Cardi B. said. "And this is what comes with it. This is what comes with our coarse hair. I'm not even going to call it nappy. This is strong hair."

Indeed Cardi. Indeed.