--- title: Blake Lively Criticized for 'Oakland Booty' Comment description: The actress was slammed for what people felt was an inappropriate photo caption on Instagram. canonical: https://time.com/4340634/blake-lively-cannes-oakland-booty/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-18T21:07:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:31.172Z og:title: Blake Lively Draws Criticism for Her 'Oakland Booty' Comment og:description: The Internet was not pleased og:url: https://time.com/4340634/blake-lively-cannes-oakland-booty/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b319e6fe7da3582/698893c7cf40a8050bc434b9/blake-lively-criticism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4527 og:image:height: 2546 og:image:alt: FRANCE-CANNES-FILM-FESTIVAL-ENTERTAINMENT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Blake Lively Draws Criticism for Her 'Oakland Booty' Comment twitter:description: The Internet was not pleased twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b319e6fe7da3582/698893c7cf40a8050bc434b9/blake-lively-criticism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Blake Lively Draws Criticism for Her 'Oakland Booty' Instagram Post > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=4281dc6a-38f5-490b-87cd-2c420110652d&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [Jessie Van Amburg](https://time.com/author/jessie-van-amburg/) ## Jessie Van Amburg May 18, 2016 9:07 PM UTC  US actress Blake Lively arrives on May 14, 2016 for the screening of the film "The BFG" at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. US actress Blake Lively arrives on May 14, 2016 for the screening of the film "The BFG" at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. Alberto Pizzoli—AFP/Getty Images by [Jessie Van Amburg](https://time.com/author/jessie-van-amburg/) ## Jessie Van Amburg May 18, 2016 9:07 PM UTC Blake Lively continues to spark conversation at the annual [Cannes Film Festival](http://time.com/4015335/travel-expert-bucket-list/item//). The _Café Society_ star, who has already made headlines with her comments [defending filmmaker Woody Allen](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/blake-lively-woody-allen%5Fus%5F5735d92be4b060aa781a089d) and her [maternity style](http://style.people.com/style/blake-lively-best-cannes-style-moments#style/2016/05/16/photo/clone-blake-lively-cannes-style-gallery-3235851), has given people something new to talk about. The 28-year old posted a photo of herself on Instagram, dressed in a form-fitting gold gown. The red carpet snap shows both the front and the back of her dress. The caption: “[L.A. face with an Oakland booty](http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/05/18/blake-lively-slammed-la-face-oakland-booty-instagram-post).” Many consider the caption, which references the 1992 song “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot, to be inappropriate coming from a wealthy white woman. > [](https://twitter.com/katbeee/status/732737243039686656) > [](https://twitter.com/AVISKINSWEAT/status/732775249767436288) > [](https://twitter.com/GabrielleWilson/status/732762464799076353) [_Follow Motto on Facebook._](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/) This isn’t the first time Lively has been accused of racism. She faced heat in 2012 about her wedding hosted on the site of a [former slave plantation,](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20628601,00.html) and for a fashion editorial titled “[Allure of Antebellum](http://www.refinery29.com/2014/10/76178/blake-lively-preserve-antebellum-shoot)” on her lifestyle site _Preserve_ in 2014\. The site was [shut down in 2015](http://www.vogue.com/13351603/blake-lively-preserve-new-project/). Critics reminded the actress in their commentary: > [](https://twitter.com/faaaadumo/status/732738704612069376) > [](https://twitter.com/giltcomplex/status/732985548860592128) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4340634/blake-lively-cannes-oakland-booty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4340634/blake-lively-cannes-oakland-booty/"},"headline":"Blake Lively Draws Criticism for Her 'Oakland Booty' Instagram Post","datePublished":"2016-05-18T21:07:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:31.172Z","description":"The Internet was not pleased","url":"https://time.com/4340634/blake-lively-cannes-oakland-booty/","keywords":["motto","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b319e6fe7da3582/698893c7cf40a8050bc434b9/blake-lively-criticism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessie Van Amburg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jessie-van-amburg/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b319e6fe7da3582/698893c7cf40a8050bc434b9/blake-lively-criticism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FRANCE-CANNES-FILM-FESTIVAL-ENTERTAINMENT","caption":"US actress Blake Lively arrives on May 14, 2016 for the screening of the film \"The BFG\" at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France.","creditText":"Alberto Pizzoli—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4340634/blake-lively-cannes-oakland-booty/","name":"Blake Lively Draws Criticism for Her 'Oakland Booty' Instagram Post"}}]}] ```