Quoted: Alex Alvarez on Seal and Heidi Klum’s “White Trash Wedding”

Excerpted by Latoya Peterson

We can’t help but feel that if Heidi and Seal had decided to throw a “Chola” or “AZN” or “Gangsta”-themed party, the outcry would be greater, as was the case when mostly Anglo Tulane students threw a party based on Mexican stereotypes. And while we’ve been known to poke fun at the stereotypes associated with white trash culture or the fashions worn by chongas, we like to feel that being from Florida and being directly related to people whose houses have wheels and whose trucks do not (Thanks, Jeff Foxworthy) and having been something of a chonga ourself mean that our jokes come from a fondness for these cultures. Because, here’s the thing: We don’t think we’re above white people who are poor and speak with a drawl, and we don’t think we’re above girls who wear hoop earrings and think acrylic nails are pretty. We don’t think we’re above people because they choose to wear a certain style of clothing, or because they come from a certain part of a country.

We kind of get the feeling that Heidi and Seal, being kazillionaires who are not American, think they are somehow hilariously above this inherently American subculture. And, you know, t isn’t even the fact that a black man is making fun of a white subculture (Because, seriously, go ahead) or even so much that two Europeans are making fun of Americans that bothers us about this, really. It’s the fact that two extraordinarily wealthy people think it cute or amusing to make fun of a segment of the population defined by their poverty.

—”Is Seal And Heidi Klum’s “White Trash”-Themed Vow Renewal Ceremony Racist?,” Guanabee