Timothee Chalamet’s marketing campaign stirs cultural appropriation debate

Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Supreme marketing campaign had caused quite a stir on the internet, and a number of people called out his crazy antics calling them appropriation of black culture.

The Little Women actor then appeared to dial things back as soon as awards season began, keeping his speeches humble and simple.

A recent article by Vulture targets this shift, and calls the Academy Award nominee out for it which has sparked a debate online.

“He seems to crave a measure of distance from the antics that earned him a spot on the Know Your Meme page for “wigga,” charitably defined as a white guy getting overly familiar with the trappings of inner-city Blackness,” the piece read.

The writer, Craig Jenkins, noted that Chalamet’s whiteness and privilege allowed him to toe the line and present the traits of another culture in a way that would otherwise be problematic.

Internet users, who had already taken up issues with the campaign agreed with the piece, meanwhile others defended the Dune star on social media platforms such as X.

One netizen wrote, “He used black aesthetics to draw attention to himself but dropped it as soon as he wanted to be taken seriously…hm”

Another remarked, “The Black Millennial literati class really hasn’t adjusted well to the post-BLM era. No, an esdeekid feature, skits on a Justin Bieber album and a Druski appearance is not pivotal to Black culture or a disservice to Black actors.”

A third commented, “Finally, the kind of awards season mud slinging I've been waiting to see,” as a fourth added, “What even is this headline? Should Timothee have done his acceptance speeches in AAVE?”

RELATED: Timothee Chalamet wins his first Golden Globe for ‘Marty Supreme’