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UK Magazine Apologizes to Lupita Nyong'o Over Edited Hair

The Academy Award winner tweeted before-and-after images, saying the magazine "edited out and smoothed" her hair

British magazine Grazia U.K. has apologized to Lupita Nyong'o after the actress accused it of altering her hair on its front cover "to fit a more Eurocentric notion" of beauty.

The Academy Award winner tweeted before-and-after images, saying the magazine "edited out and smoothed" her hair. She added the hashtag "dtmh (don't touch my hair)."

On Instagram, the Kenya-raised star of "12 Years a Slave" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" said "there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women's complexion, hair style and texture."

She added, "As I have made clear so often in the past with every fiber of my being, I embrace my natural heritage and despite having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too. Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are. I am disappointed that @graziauk invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like. Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage." 

The magazine said Friday that it "apologized unreservedly to Lupita Nyong'o." It said it had not altered the images itself or asked the photographer to do so, and "is committed to representing diversity throughout its pages."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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