“I can’t believe…” - Patrick Mahomes comment on his hair sparks outrage

In an April 23 interview with KCTV 5, Kansas City Chiefs player Patrick Mahomes showed off his new haircut while looking back at his old hairstyle. However, his use of the word "nappy" to describe his past haircut has earned the player backlash on social media.

As per NPR, the word "nappy" originated as a derogatory term to mock black people's textured hair when the first slave ships made it to the American colonies in the 17th century. Although Patrick Mahomes is biracial, social media users took to comment on KCTV 5's X post of the interview, criticizing the player for his choice of words.

While talking about his new haircut, Mahomes said,

"I’ve wanted to do it for a while, but it was kind of one of those superstitions. I kept winning the Super Bowl, which is a good thing, but I didn’t want to cut the hair while I was doing it. I told everybody during the season that win or lose, if we win three in a row or if we lose, I’m getting a haircut like that’s enough."

He then went on to add,

"I’m very excited. I’ve looked at some videos from last year and I can’t believe all you guys let me keep that nappy hair for so long. I look way better now with the short hair, so I’ll be keeping this going forward."

"Black people never call our hair nappy in front of mixed comapny" - Users react to Patrick Mahomes calling his hair "nappy"

Patrick Mahomes clip of calling his hair "nappy" has earned mixed reactions from the Black community. Users took to KCTV 5's X post of the interview to comment on Mahomes' choice of words, saying that the player can use the word "nappy" since he's half Black.

However, other people pointed out that while using the word in front of the Black community is alright, it's not the same as using it around mixed company.

"New flash we call our hair nappy all the time. It’s ok. 😂😂" - another user mentioned

"He is married to a white MAGA supporter… none of this should come as a shock. The self hatred oozes outta him at times and it’s pretty wild." - another user pointed out

"Is calling my hair Nappy and bad thing? I thought that was the way to describe it when combing it out felt like my scalp was coming with it😭😭" - a user questioned

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"I don’t see nothing wrong with this" - a user mentioned

The Kansas City Chiefs player has talked about his race earlier in a GQ interview published in June 2020, where he addressed comments about people on X calling him "half Black." While reacting to the comments, Patrick Mahomes mentioned that he's "proud" to have a Black father and a white mother.

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