Coco Fires Back After New Braids Get 'Social Media’s Panties in a Bunch' Over 'Appropriation'

On Saturday, the reality TV star shared two Instagram videos explaining that she meant no harm by naming her new braided hairstyle, "Da Coco Swoop," and argued it had nothing to do with race, despite comments from followers claiming otherwise.

"So, recently I got social media's panties in a bunch because I did braids to my hair. This is so stupid," she said in the video. "I can't believe I'm talking about it, and I believe this shouldn't be turned out to be a race thing."

"I did my braids and I called them the Coco Swoop. I name all my styles that I do to myself. These are called the Coco Swoop. The braids before were called the Bo Derek Braids. And it's a Coco-ism. I've always done it."

"Why can't we all rename hairstyles or braids? That sounds so stupid. Why is everybody claiming something they shouldn't? I know braids have been around for thousands of years. Don't you think I know that?"

"If I wanna wear a pineapple on my head, then I should be able to wear a pineapple on my head and call it the Pineapple Cocowop. I don't know. You see where I'm going with this? Why is everybody hating? This should be a 'human thing,' right? Everybody should be able to do it. It's a 'human thing' – give that a shot – not a race war.”

Austin concluded her message by making it clear that she thinks people overreacted to something she had no intention of doing. "It has nothing to do with race. But this just goes to show you that no one reads the captions underneath pictures. Otherwise, you would understand that this is not an issue. It's something that I do. It's a Coco-ism, okay?"

Earlier in the week, Austin's husband Ice-T also shut down a Twitter troll who said he was the reason that Austin named her braids what she did.