The New Yorker confused Top Chef host and model Padma Lakshmi for actress Priyanka Chopra over the weekend, and she isn’t having it. Padma took a screenshot of a now-deleted post that tagged her as Priyanka, chiding the magazine for apparently thinking that Indian people “all look alike.”
According to E! Online , The New Yorker posted an image of Padma for its celebrity cartoon takeover and tagged the Instagram post with Priyanka’s name. Padma was born in Chennai, India, and Priyanka is of Indian descent, but the two don’t share many resemblances. The magazine deleted the post, but not before someone nabbed a screenshot of the error.
Padma used humor to chasten the magazine, tagging it as the New York Daily News to poke fun at the mistagging and thanked the outlet for the shout out.
“Thank you to the illustrious ‘@nydailynews’ for the shoutout????,” she wrote. “I know to some we all look alike, but???????????… #desilife #justindianthings.”
Fellow celebrities like Natalie Portman, Michelle Lee, editor at Allure , and Season 10 Top Chef winner Kristen Kish all commented on the post to show their displeasure at the mistake. The post nabbed over 15,000 likes and numerous comments criticizing the magazine.
Padma often uses her social media account to communicate with fans about politics, health , and, of course, food. But she has been open about her struggle with the format. This isn’t the first time that she has found herself pushing back against some of the practices that social media accounts and magazines employ.
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In 2016, she spoke about having her skin lightened on the cover of Adweek magazine. She said that the move made her “angry.”
“I like the color of my skin,” she said.
“It’s taken me a long time to feel comfortable with who I am and I think when you’re a brown person living in a white world, it’s especially sensitive.”
She has also been forced to ask magazines not to retouch the scar on her arm that she sustained during a car accident when she was young.
“I also ask people not to retouch my scar, because I thought it was important for other young women to see that it’s not all perfect,” she said.
That said, she’s not totally against a little retouching.
“I’m not going to lie, I don’t mind when they retouch the stretch marks a little!” she added. “I’m not above that, but I think there has to be a bit of good sense and gentleness about it,” she added.
