Time To ‘Let It Go’ As Disney Star Moves On From Oscars Remarks


“Let it go” seems to be the phrase du jour of late. At at time when Disney is releasing their highly-anticipated mini sequel, the animated short Frozen Fever (in conjunction with the Kenneth Branagh-directed, live-action Cinderella on March 13), the Oscars faux pas of Giuliana Rancic and those comments last month has still been playing out. Now, Zendaya Coleman has had enough, and channeled Elsa to say so.

The Disney Channel star and singer who came to prominence with Shake It Up! is calling for everyone to let Rancic’s slip-up go. Accepting the E! News host’s apology for publicly deeming Zendaya’s Oscars dreadlock hairstyle as probably scented with “patchouli oil and weed”, as Yahoo! Celebrity reports, the K. C. Undercover star has said simply, “Let it go, let’s make it positive.” A magnanimous request from an 18-year old who graced the January cover of Teen Vogue.

Miss Coleman might have let it go with class, but the ill-feelings between E!‘s Fashion Police cohosts, Giuliana Rancic and Kelly Osbourne, are ongoing. As the Inquisitr reported on Thursday, some have sensed that Rancic had been trying to fill the late Joan Rivers’ shoes, but lacked the natural comedic vein to do so. Indeed, no more evident was her failure to inject humour into her red carpet appraisals than when she made her now infamous comments at the 87th Annual Academy Awards. Kelly Osbourne, a friend of Zendaya’s, was so incensed with Giuliana that she couldn’t let it go and has since left Fashion Police.

The View‘s Nicolle Wallace and Whoopi Goldberg were also watching, and they too couldn’t let it go. Wallace was scathing that Rancic ever thought she could adopt the comedic vitriole that Rivers embodied and Goldberg was aghast that Giuliana could be so narrowminded, given the wide variety of stars who sport and have sported dreadlocks, including Goldberg herself who has had dreadlocks for 40 years.

As Contact Music reports, what Goldberg couldn’t let go either was the public’s immediate jump to the cry of racism. Whoopi of course offered support and solidarity to Zendaya, who at first verbally hit back at Rancic, before her peaceful call to let it go. However, although many jumped on the bandwagon proclaiming Giuliana’s remarks as racist, Goldberg was more level-headed in her assessment.

“This was offensive to me […] but it is a stereotype… I’ve met real racists, so I’m very hesitant to call people who put their foot in their mouth racist. She was just ignorant.”

The power of words is very real, no more so than when broadcast around the world. As the BBC Newsbeat reported only last month, Benedict Cumberbatch was caught up in a race row over his use of the outdated word “colored” when being interviewed by Tavis Smiley. Racism is never something that should be let pass, but as Goldberg asserted, when it comes from ignorance – and as the talented young Zandaya (who, let’s face it, looked absolutely stunning at the Oscars) has demonstrated – it is sometimes best to let it go.

[Image courtesy of Celebuzz, Jason Merritt/Getty Images]

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