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How does an entertainer who isn’t nominated for an award or doesn’t even get to go anywhere near the stage at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards become the talk of the town?

By wearing something like this:

Joy Villa

This woman’s name is Joy Villa. She’s an actress, singer and songwriter who is African American, Italian and supposedly, Choctaw Indian. I say “supposedly” because don’t we all know someone claiming they have some Indian in their family?

She’s also a Grammy red carpet regular. For the last two years, Villa has gone out of her way to garner attention. In 2015 and 2016, she tried to turn heads in these revealing ensembles:

Joy Villa

Those outfits didn’t really work, so this time around, she decided to go for something controversial. That something was a Make America Great Again gown featuring Donald Trump’s name on the train. The look was created by a designer named Andre Soriano.

When explaining her decision to make such a major statement at the Grammys, Villa said on Instagram, “Go big, or go home. You can either stand for what you believe or fall for what you don’t. Above all make a choice for tolerance and love. Agree to disagree. See the person over the politics, carry yourself with dignity, always. Life is made to be lived, so go boldly and give no effs!”

It was like Stacey Dash 2.0, but even more opportunistic than before. Here was this woman going out of her way to take a controversial stance months after the election, doing so for the very first time. If you scroll through Villa’s social media, you will see that aside from a message to “keep your spirits high, we shall overcome and persevere” after the election, she hasn’t used her platform at any other time to share political views. So to do all of this on Grammy night screams “Look at me!”

For that reason, Villa received a great deal of criticism from people, but she also received a great deal of support. Right-wing “MAGA” folks jumped on her social media to defend her from those calling her out for her gaudy fashion choice. The vast majority of these people were White women and men. Not only did they applaud her for being “brave,” but they started buying her music. Her EP, I Make the Static from 2014 ended up jumping to number one on Amazon’s best sellers for digital albums. The five-track EP also skyrocketed up the iTunes charts. The reviews for her album were more about her dress than her music, more about her politics than her talent.

No surprise there.

I didn’t know this woman from Adam before she wore this dress, and once I saw her, I knew what her real motives were. It wasn’t about peace and love or unity — her dress would have said that, right? It wasn’t that she’s a staunch Trump supporter who can even say she voted for the man and wanted to be as vocal as the rest of Hollywood has been. It was about getting people talking, generating buzz and getting people to look her up. She was undoubtedly successful in that undertaking.

But as for the people who decided to make her their version of Beyoncé, turning themselves into members of her faux Beyhive, they were unsuccessful in making anyone think they actually care about this woman. The fact that she served their interests (at least on the red carpet) while being a Black woman wearing Trump’s name on her body, served as the ultimate F-U to those of the anti-Trump ilk, particularly the Black ones.

Black people and Black lives to these types of people only matter when individuals are advocating for things that seem to show support for their beliefs and choices (look at Omarosa, Ben Carson and Clarence Thomas). But what became obvious pretty quickly was the fact that her supporters were just trolls. Like the guy who tried to ask on our social media if Black lives really matter to Black people since we were calling her out for her outfit. Or the woman on Villa’s Instagram page who shared the dress with controversial “Internet supervillian” Milo Yiannopoulos, who led the ugly attacks on Leslie Jones last year. The same guy who signed a receipt for his waiter at an Albuquerque restaurant that said “No tip crew” because “God hates f**s.” There was also a guy who criticized those commenting on her dress, but whose Instagram profile included a man holding up the white power hand sign, and a video of Trump protesters, a Black man front and center, with the caption: “Someone nuke them already.” So while Villa was pretending to push the idea of “tolerance and love” with her dress, a good chunk of her new fans aren’t really about that life. Not to mention that aside from the dress on her body, her brown skin and afro are a symbol of the Blackness that these same people can’t stand.

That’s exactly why these type of exploits are so disappointing. At a time when people are quite divided, the last thing we need is more people feeding into that fire for the sake of getting put on. Granted, that’s how our new president got his current job, so it starts at the top. But as a Black woman whose interests are not cared about in the hands of the new administration, and with so many being treated with everything but love and tolerance through his executive orders and plans, it’s unacceptable.

Ninety-four percent of Black women went out of their way to see that he wouldn’t be elected. We wanted to ensure that he wouldn’t be allowed the chance to strip us of our freedom of choice by appointing justices down the line who would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade, not to mention strip people of their healthcare. This man who questioned the legitimacy of our first Black president. This man who has financial ties to the companies seeking to continue work on the Dakota Access Pipeline project. This man who doesn’t believe that global warming is real. This man who wants to track the movements of Muslims and unsuccessfully tried to enact a Muslim ban for travel of people from seven Muslim countries. (If you provide loopholes for Christian refugees, it’s a Muslim ban, folks).  So to see Villa go out of her way to stand with that as a Black woman is quite the slap in the face.

At this point, there is nothing cute and funny about playing with such serious concerns for the sake of getting people to buy your old record and to increase your follower count on social media. So yes, I’ll stick with my initial review of the gown and the motivation behind wearing it: It’s hideous.

Images via WENN 

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