Doechii’s Met Gala controversy

While attending her first Met Gala, Doechii went viral as social media debated over whether she was out of line in her treatment of staffers at the event after a video of her demanding umbrellas to hide her outfit from the paparazzi started making the rounds online.

In the video, she can be heard saying:

“No, stop. Get me another umbrella, now! Another one, right there. And another one!” and then shortly following up with profanity. “I need more f-cking umbrellas!”

In a video posted yesterday where she addressed the hoopla, Doechii leaned into two trends. The first is what MC posted about a few weeks ago in his Music Lounge, using the viral throwback “Easy” by Commodores. The second trend is “God forbid”, where the simple expression is coyly used to brush off a transgression. For example, if someone is over an hour late to pick up a friend, they might post something that reads, “God forbid a girl stops for a coffee first,” alongside some sort of cheeky emoji.

@iamdoechii_

All jokes aside this was such an overstimulating night but I wouldn’t trade it for the world! This was the night we all dreamed of and my team killed it (umbrellas aside) 😭🥴

♬ Easy - Commodores

The post had the following caption:

“All jokes aside this was such an overstimulating night but I wouldn’t trade it for the world! This was the night we all dreamed of and my team killed it (umbrellas aside) 😭🥴”

Doechii is making light of what was of the most chaotic moments for most celebrities of the entire night –trying to get from the hotel to the Met without being photographed by paparazzi who, as we know, are relentless in pursuit of photos in general, let alone one that might allow for a scoop of the outfits prior to the event.

It’s worth noting that Doechii was clearly unprepared for the swath of paps that were waiting for her elevator exit – and that’s why it’s being speculated that paparazzi were allowed into hotel earlier than initially anticipated, leaving Doechii and her team scrambling to hide her ensemble. Hence the outburst. 

Though she is laughing it off after the fact, tons of people in the comments are calling her out over what they interpret to be a lack of accountability, slamming her attitude as gross and disgusting. And the criticism is pretty layered. Mostly, though, it comes down to two things. 

The first is her newness to the industry. It’s no secret that the level of fame Doechii has recently acquired is still relatively fresh, so there is a tone in the comments that suggest she hasn’t quite earned her keep – that she is not entitled to act in this manner because they deem her a “new” celebrity. The second aspect, while much more vain, is that people were underwhelmed by her ensemble, implying that such “diva” and “bratty” behaviour would’ve been much better received had she slayed harder than she did. 

When it comes to actual divas – think Beyoncé, Rihanna (who was lauded for the time she boldly told a pap to get the f-ck out of her way), or even a Bravo housewife, behaviour like this would be welcomed and drooled over and meme-ified for years to come. But in Doechii’s pursuit of a high-impact reveal, an appropriate aim for the Met, she’s been criticized over wanting things to go according to plan and expressing a very human disappointment, rage, even, over it not going according to plan.

Others, though, are defending her, demonstrating an understanding of just how high the stakes are in this scenario, pointing to the hefty price tag for a ticket, which amplifies expectations, and the deep-rooted desire Doechii – and any celebrity attending the Met – might have to save her debut for the red carpet. 

A few commenters pointed out stars like Gordon Ramsay, whose entire celebrity persona is quite literally cursing people out in high-stress situations, but still being one of the world’s best-known chefs with several of his own TV shows because of it. And even more interestingly, someone highlighted a seemingly parallel situation involving Miley Cyrus at the VMAs several years ago. 

Back in 2013, Miley planned to transfer from an SUV to a police car and arrive to the red carpet in the emergency vehicle for her grand entrance. But when her driver missed the police car, driving right by it, Miley lashed out at her team before exiting the SUV in a much more pared down version of the arrival she planned. Similar to Doechii, the mishap led to tension, frustration and cursing. But the comment section and response to Miley’s outburst? Totally different from what we saw on the post about Doechii.

“That lady had an attitude with her when it’s her job to ensure things go according to plan…Miley had a right to react how she did,” one commenter said, receiving nearly 8,000 likes for her sentiment.

“That’s what they getting paid for they should have got it right,” another person said, receiving nearly 3,000 likes.

Others remarked that their “heart goes out to Miley”, “her team ruined it”, “she wanted her intro to be cool, that’s valid” and again, “when you pay your team big money there’s no room for mistakes.”

So why is there such a vast difference between the reception to Miley’s outburst to the VMAs and Doechii’s outburst at the Met? 

In 2013, Miley was a 20-year-old who had reaped the benefits of nepotism, despite having actual talent. She was still in the early days of her career, just as Doechii is now. But it’s clear that one person, more than the other, can get away with things much easier than the other person can.

This brings me back to Doechii’s caption, where she alluded to the umbrella situation. The fact that there were that many umbrellas on hand suggest that her departure from the hotel had been a topic of conversation at one point, so it’s likely that the staffers were, in fact briefed, but were not moving with the same sense of urgency Doechii needed in that moment. And if the speculation that the hotel did in fact move up the arrival time of the paps, then no one could have prepared for what unfolded. Not Doechii. And not her staff.

While all the observations are interesting, to say the least – from the ones that suggest her reaction was out of line to the fact that she’s not taking accountability - I think they paint a pretty clear picture. And it’s that Black women are held to a higher standard in stressful situations than our white counterparts. Judging by this instance, we’re not even allowed to be frustrated at a situation without it being interpreted incorrectly.

It’s so obvious that Doechii was under stress, wanting to reveal her look at the event, which is quite literally the whole point of the Met (though the general manager of The Mark was just featured on Entertainment Tonight calling The Mark “the second red carpet of the Met Gala”). And in a high stress situation, I think people have a hard time understanding that a Black woman can express frustration at the predicament they are in without it being a personal attack on an individual.

Because she is Black, though, her behaviour is immediately interpreted as aggressive and abusive. In truth, she doesn’t have a clue who she’s talking to on the other side of that white box. She just needs a f-cking umbrella. She’s not swearing at a person, she’s swearing at the situation, trying to drive home the point of urgency in her request.

There’s also something to be said about how quick people are to ascribe her the role of aggressor, and the staffers “victims”. Some of that might have to do with the fact that the main person we’re seeing scramble for umbrellas is a red-headed white woman, who easily fits into society’s image of a victim, particularly if the person on the other end looks like Doechii.

There’s a lot of people who may be of the school of thought that this is not that deep, nor is it about race. And if you think I’m reaching with what I’ve drawn from the situation, I envy the luxury of living in the kind of world where race is not a factor. But unfortunately, situations like this, at least as it pertains to tone, optics and perception, have played out so many times in my own life, both at work and outside of it. 

Truthfully, what we saw in the clip was not unlike scenes we’d see in any high stakes and high stress scenario - from trying to execute a successful dinner service at a restaurant to trying to perform a successful operation in a hospital to trying to run a live TV show in a control room or a studio. With this being her first Met, it would’ve been nice to see more people lending her the same empathy and understanding they lent Miley over a decade ago, rather than take Doechii to task over being overstimulated and chasing the highest execution. But it’s certainly a reminder that people simply aren’t used to seeing Black women being the ones to call the shots and maybe that’s actually what a lot of the fuss is about.