Piers Morgan is the latest right-wing commentator to take aim at Beyoncé, accusing her of “cultural appropriation” for channeling Marilyn Monroe in her new Levi’s campaign, reigniting a familiar cycle of racist controversy. In a tweet that quickly went viral, Morgan said he was “very disappointed” to see Beyoncé allegedly imitate the Hollywood icon. The internet responded with mockery and frustration, questioning the logic behind such a claim. Dionne Warwick summed it up best: “Getting involved in women’s business again, I see.”

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The Marilyn Persona Was Manufactured

Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson, built her career by transforming her appearance to meet Hollywood’s demands. Her signature platinum hair was the product of repeated bleaching, not heritage. Beyoncé, in contrast, has spent decades using fashion and visual art to reflect on American symbolism. From “Black Is King” to “Cowboy Carter,” she has explored national identity through costume, sound, and storytelling. Her Levi’s ad, styled in vintage curls and denim, reflects this lineage. To claim that adopting a commercially invented aesthetic constitutes appropriation reveals a flawed understanding of both culture and history.

Teenage Norma Jeane Baker with dark curly hair and a floral headpiece, photographed around 1941 before becoming Marilyn Monroe.
A rare photo of Norma Jeane Baker before the blonde transformation that would make her Marilyn Monroe. Taken circa 1941, age 15.

A History of Targeting Black Women

Morgan’s criticism fits a pattern. From Meghan Sussex to now Beyoncé, he consistently singles out Black women for public condemnation while often remaining silent on similar actions by white celebrities. During the 2020 U.S. election season, he called for Meghan and Harry to lose their royal titles after they spoke about civic engagement. His comments on her mental health during the Oprah interview drew widespread outrage and led to his departure from “Good Morning Britain.”

The right-wing backlash against Beyoncé does not exist in a vacuum. It has escalated ever since she released a country album, a bold move to reclaim a genre with Black American origins. Since then, conservative commentators have remained on the offensive, searching for new ways to discredit her. The latest uproar over her Levi’s campaign follows a familiar pattern. Figures like Piers Morgan and Megyn Kelly have focused their outrage on Beyoncé, while white celebrities like Sydney Sweeney received minimal backlash, despite widespread criticism of her American Eagle ad, which many interpreted as promoting white supremacy through its “blue eyes, blue jeans” slogan. The discrepancy reveals how cultural outrage is often weaponized selectively, especially when aimed at Black women asserting creative control and cultural influence.

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Final Thoughts

The charge of cultural theft rings hollow when aimed at a campaign that draws from an aesthetic Marilyn Monroe herself borrowed. Studio executives, stylists, and marketing teams crafted her signature look, not any fixed cultural lineage. Yet critics continue to interrogate Black women like Beyoncé for doing what white celebrities have long been celebrated for, reinventing visual language through style.

Beyoncé’s Levi’s campaign doesn’t erase history; it reframes it. Artists have always used iconography to challenge the past and reshape the present. Morgan’s outrage does little to protect Monroe’s memory. Instead, it reinforces a tired pattern in which Black creativity is policed while white nostalgia is preserved without question.

Morgan’s accusation lacks historical grounding and artistic insight. Monroe was not a culture. She was a Hollywood construct, a reflection of post-war consumer ideals, not ethnic tradition. If Morgan truly cares about cultural integrity, he might begin by reckoning with his own record. In October 2024, Piers Morgan publicly apologized to JAY-Z after he aired baseless claims from Jaguar Wright. Legal pressure from the Carters left him no choice but to retract.

Perhaps this latest attack is just more of the same. The public, however, seems less interested in Morgan’s manufactured outrage than in Beyoncé’s vision, and her right to interpret history on her own terms.

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