Serena Williams Faces Backlash Over Cotton Decor

Serena Williams posted Instagram videos from a New York City hotel while in town for a SKIMS×Nike event, questioning a cotton plant arrangement—plucking a cotton boll, rubbing it on her nail and saying it “doesn’t feel great” and “unnatural.” The footage went viral and prompted a sharp divide online: some viewers interpreted her discomfort as awareness of cotton’s ties to slavery, while others mocked the reaction as a privileged, overblown complaint. The controversy intensified when an image of Radcliffe Bailey’s Monument for a Promise—a sculpture featuring a mound of cotton that appears in Williams’s home—circulated online, leading critics to accuse her of hypocrisy. Alexis Ohanian publicly defended the artwork on social media, saying the cotton is symbolic and criticizing attempts to weaponize the image. Reporters also linked the episode to broader scrutiny of Williams, noting her promotional role with telehealth company Ro and her use of GLP-1 weight-loss treatments including Zepbound.