“This happens all the time,” says Muslim style star following viral TV interview filled with “loaded statements”.
She appeared on-air to talk about her new book, which examines street style in Tehran.
Instead, Hoda Katebi was quizzed about politics and told she didn’t “sound like an American” in a controversial interview on a Chicago news station.
Read:
Lindsay Lohan flies the flag for modest fashion in London…
Bella Hadid opens up about her extreme battles with anxiety
The American-Iranian fashion blogger, who runs JooJoo Azad, has since admitted this type of incident “happens all the time” following outrage over the WGN segment.
Katebi, who wears a hijab, was quizzed by co-hosts Larry Potash and Robin Baumgarten about her childhood in Oklahoma before talk turned to her views on warfare in the Middle East.
Revealing that she’s a pacifist, the blogger added that “I don’t think we can trust this country [the US]”, touching on the “legacy of imperialism and colonisation in the Middle East” by the States.
Her comments led Baumgarten to state that “a lot of Americans might take offence to that”.
“You’re an American, you don’t sound like an American when you say [this] … you know what I mean,” the news host said.
“That’s because I’ve read,” Katebi replied, adding that it was important people “look beyond these simple narratives that we’re told”.
Following heated debate on social media after the interview aired last week, Katebi told Glamour magazine it “was just refreshing for people to see reality on TV screens for once, especially in the political climate that we’re in right now”.
“I really don’t want this to be about me or Hoda versus WGN. Even people are like ‘Hoda for President’—and I don’t want that to be the case! I really just want people to understand that this happens all the time. I want people to think about the larger issue.”
The blogger also touched on the interview on her social media channels, telling her 37,000 Instagram followers that “the double standards are wild”.
Read:
Meghan Markle makes secret trip to mosque to comfort fire victims
Muslim singer quits The Voice after Twitter controversy
“When I gave answers the hosts didn’t like, their questions (and comments) started getting hostile, literally telling me I ‘don’t sound American’ — which is an incredibly loaded statement to say to a visibly Muslim woman on live TV, pushing every stereotype of ‘other’, ‘foreign’, and ‘incompatible with America’ that Muslims are so systematically characterised as,” she wrote.
Katebi added to Glamour that Baumgarten has since called her and apologised for her comments, however a follow-up interview she suggested was cancelled by the network.
Image: Hoda Katebi/Instagra,
