Avril Lavigne Says Her 'Hello Kitty' Video Is Not Racist
April 24, 2014 — -- Avril Lavigne's camp says critics who called her music video, "Hello Kitty," racist towards Asians are wrong.
“The video is an homage to all the things she loves about Japan," her rep told ABC News Radio. "Food, fashion, fun!"
The video features Lavigne, 29, wearing a cupcake tutu, singing phrases like "arigato" and dancing in a candy store with Asian background dancers. Later, she gets served sushi and sake.
Websites and social media commenters have suggested it is a cliched portrayal of Japanese culture.
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Lavigne's rep added that the video popping up on YouTube Wednesday but later disappearing wasn't in response to the uproar.
"It was not pulled from YouTube," the rep said, "but it was GEO BLOCKED as VEVO is set to premiere it exclusively tomorrow! Fans were ripping the video and posting to YouTube and then getting removed due to the geo-blocking.”
Even Lavigne laughed off the comments about her video.
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"RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!! I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video ..." she tweeted Wednesday.
