Zendaya reflects on Giuliana Rancic’s ‘offensive’ comments about her dreadlocks at the 2015 Oscars

Zendaya has reflected on the ‘outrageously offensive’ comments Giuliana Rancic made about her dreadlocks at the 2015 Academy Awards.

When she was only 18, she saw a new haircut as she took to the red carpet at the prestigious event, which prompted Rancic to notice that her locks looked like they ‘smell like patchouli oil or weed’.

And now actress Zendaya, 24, is looking back at both the controversy and positive change surrounding the comments, months before Rancic, 46, was set to step down from her role on E! News.

Amid the furor, Mattel created a Zendaya-inspired Barbie doll, wearing a replica of her ivory dress worn at the Oscars – and the same haircut too.

“That’s how change happens,” she said in a new interview to W magazine. “And it got me thinking, how can I always have a lasting impact on what people saw and were associated with people of color?”

In 2015, Zendaya addressed Rancic’s controversial comments, saying in a statement, “ There’s a fine line between what’s funny and disrespectful.

Someone said something about my hair at the Oscars that left me in awe. Not because I enjoyed rave outfit reviews, but because I was smitten with ignorant comments and pure disrespect. ‘

She added: ‘To say that an 18-year-old young woman with locs should smell like patchouli oil or’ weed ‘is not only a big stereotype but also outrageously insulting.

“I don’t usually feel the need to respond to negative things, but certain comments cannot go unnoticed.”

Rancic later apologized and tweeted, “I’m sorry I offended you and others. I was referring to a bohemian-chic look. Was NOTHING to do with race and NEVER would !!! ‘

While Zendaya said she appreciated Rancic’s apology for saying her dreadlocks must have smelled like ‘weed’ and ‘patchouli oil’, she criticized the nature of Fashion Police.

“Body shaming and other hurtful tactics will never get the job done,” Zendaya said in a statement, adding that she was “glad” it was a learning experience for Rancic and the E! Network.

Zendaya added in her statement: “Giuliana, I appreciate your apology and I am glad it was a learning experience for you and for the network. I hope that others who are negatively affected by her words can find it in their hearts to accept her apology as well. ‘

She continued, ‘From a quote we all know from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr .: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out; only love can do that.” Let’s be that light and spread that love. ‘

Zendaya also revealed that she had initially intended to respond angrily to Rancic’s comments before giving it a better thought.

“Instead, I sat on my phone for two hours, doing my research and formulating an informed answer,” she said.

In the immediate aftermath of Rancic’s comments, Fashion Police co-host Kelly Osbourne, sensationally quit the E! show.

Giuliana would make a statement on the air about her comments, saying, “I would really like to discuss something that weighs very heavily on my heart. I want to apologize for a comment I made to the Fashion Police last night about Zendaya’s hair. ‘

“As you know, Fashion Police is a show that makes fun of celebrities in good spirits, but I do realize that something I said last night crossed the line.”

“I just want everyone to know that I had no intention of hurting anyone, but I learned that it isn’t my intention that matters,” Rancic continued. ‘It is the result. And as a result, people are offended, including Zendaya. And that’s not okay. ‘

“That’s why I want to say to Zendaya and everyone else that I was hurt, I’m so sincerely sorry,” she concluded. ‘This has really been a learning experience for me.

‘I learned a lot today and this incident has taught me to be much more aware of clichés and stereotypes, and how much damage they can do. And that I am responsible, as we all are, not to perpetuate them any further. Thanks for listening.’