Avril Lavigne has been called racist after dropping the video to her latest single "Hello Kitty." The vid, filmed in Japan, sees Avril hanging out with four Asian dancers in several locations. Billboard, among her critics, accused the pop star of fetishising Japanese culture.
"RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!! I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video," wrote Lavigne via Twitter.
She added: "I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video specifically for my Japanese fans, WITH my Japanese label, Japanese choreographers AND a Japanese director IN Japan."
Billboard, in its article, "Why, Avril? Why?," had a different take:
"The majority of the . . . video finds [Avril] parading around with four identical, creepily expressionless Asian women behind her, performing mind-numbingly generic dance moves, in locales like a bedroom, a candy store and a street."
The video hit YouTube on Wednesday and was taken down shortly thereafter.
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