Florence Pugh apologises for cultural appropriation

Florence Pugh has issued a lengthy statement admitting she was complicit in cultural appropriation for years before she finally realised what she was doing.

Amid ongoing Black Lives Matter protests worldwide and calls for an end to systemic racism, the Little Women star took to Instagram to address her previously unprincipled behaviour.

Pugh penned that she had set her hair in cornrows when she was 17, something she now regrets.

Explaining “the history and heartbreak over how when Black girls (wear cornrows) they’re mocked and judged, but when white girls do it, it’s only then perceived as cool,” Pugh confessed she was affronted when a friend called her out for adopting the braided hairstyle.

“I could see how Black culture was being so obviously exploited" she acknowledged, but added absorbing the information was still difficult for her: "I was defensive and confused, white fragility coming out plain and simple.”

The Midsommar star went on to open up about a phase of wearing Henna, which she had justified because an Indian shop owner taught her how to use the skin dye as a child.

“I thought because I was taught about it differently, I was an exception… Stupid doesn’t even cut it. I was uneducated. I was unread," Pugh reflected.

“I’m truly sorry to all of you that were offended for years or even just recently," Pugh apologised.

She concluded: "I believe that we who were blind to such things must acknowledge them and recognize them as our faults, our ignorance and our white privilege and I apologize profusely that it took this long.”