Was Katy Perry's Wig Snatching Joke in Poor Taste? The Internet Says, "Mhm"

Getty | John Shearer

The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards — with Katy Perry as its host — were pretty unoffensive. Though there were plenty of easy political jokes and jabs at the president, Katy managed to avoid any major missteps. Well, for most of the evening, that is.

Following Pink's epic performance toward the end of the show, Katy exclaimed, "I am shooketh. I am dead, I am living, I am crying. She's iconic." As she then pulled her blond wig off her head, Katy punctuated her reaction with, "Wig, snatched!"

Online, the joke was not well-received. Yet again, Katy faced accusations of cultural appropriation, given that the expression really originated among black women. Though Katy acknowledged her previous mistakes in the emotional live stream leading up to her album release, many felt as though she had not truly learned from those mistakes. It's unlikely that Katy will directly address this cringe-worthy blunder, but many online want it to be known that it was not cool.

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