Serena Williams has spoken of her discomfort after she spotted a cotton plant in a New York City hotel.
The retired tennis star was in the Big Apple on Thursday after promoting Kim Kardashian‘s SKIMS/Nike launch the day prior.
The 43-year-old recorded her walk down the hallway of an undisclosed hotel and spotted a table with a vase of cotton plants.
Williams said in the video, which was posted to her Instagram story: ‘How do we feel about cotton as decoration? Personally, for me, it doesn’t feel great.’
She then picked one of the balls off the plant and rubbed it around her fingers before shuddering and putting it back down.
Cotton’s history in the United States is tied to the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Serena Williams appeared put-off by a cotton plant in the hallway of a New York City hotel
Williams was in New York to promote a Nike collaboration with Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS brand
The tennis star, 43, did not disclose which hotel she took the video in
Fans shared their own opinions about the plant and Williams’s reaction. Some mocked her for what they believed to be faux-outrage or race-baiting.
‘Wait until she finds out Skims uses cotton in some of their clothing,’ read one comment on X.
Another user wrote: ‘It kinda looks nice to me. Nobody told her to pick it!’
‘Serena please stop being dumb. These are common fall decorations,’ another post read.
One comment read, ‘Oh please! If it offends you so much, you better be sure not to wear cotton clothes.’
Last month, Williams announced she shed 31lbs in eight months by taking the trendy GLP-1 agonist drug Zepbound, which she obtained through her new role as investor/ambassador of the telehealth company Ro.
With Kim and Khloe Kardashian at the NikeSKIMS launch event in New York on Thursday
‘I feel like a lot of people have this stigma on GLP-1s and say things like, “Oh, lazy people do it,” or “if you’re working hard enough, you don’t need that,”‘ Williams told Vogue.
‘I know for a fact from my experience that it’s simply not true. Sometimes you need help. Your story is your story, and it’s okay to make that choice to do it if you want to. I did, and I’m really happy with it.’
The four-time Olympic gold medalist added: ‘I was putting in the work. I actually think it’s a problem a lot of other women can relate to, that you are in the gym and eating healthy, but just can’t get to the level you want or need to.
‘I feel lighter mentally, I feel sexier, I feel more confident.’
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