Posted on 10/04/2026 8:05:26 AM PDT by DFG
Cornrows are at the center of a controversy between the Baltimore Rock Opera Society and its former executive director.
Kelly Carnes says the group terminated her contract as executive director two weeks after she started the job after she wore her hair in cornrows.
A spokesperson for the Baltimore Rock Opera Society declined to comment and said it is focused on caring for their internal community. However, the group posted a statement on social media two weeks ago after backlash from a video posted on social media showing Carnes wearing cornrows.
Carnes says the video was taken at a puppet karaoke fundraiser on September 10th, two days after she started the job.
“We have received many heartfelt and concerned messages from members of our community regarding a video circulated on social media showing our new Executive Director, who is white, wearing cornrows at a recent BROS public event. We share the weight of these concerns and take this matter seriously,” the statement from Baltimore Rock Opera Society said.
The organization added it was revising its Anti-Discrimination Policy to address cultural representation and dress and enforcing anti-racism leadership training.
“The mission of this group will focus on initiatives and systemic changes related to community culture, anti-racist practices, inclusion, accountability, equity, and access within BROS,” the statement posted on social media adds.
Carnes says she got her hair cornrowed for the Burning Man festival, which takes place in a desert area in Nevada. She says she did not have time to take the braids out before her first event.
She learned volunteers complained about her hairstyle and that there were cultural appropriation concerns a few days after the BROS event.
“I understand the concerns and I’m very sensitive to them,” said Carnes. “I wear that hairstyle only for the two weeks I’m camping at Burning Man, where the conditions are really rough on your body and your hair and, after a couple of years of not being able to take care of my hair well and seeing many others braid theirs, I talked to my community members there, my fellow campers of color, the people that I work with back here, back home, to ask what the boundaries were in exploring whether or not I could braid my hair to take better care of it.”
Carnes says Baltimore Rock Opera Society held a town hall with the community that she was advised not to attend and held a board meeting a few days later before she received a termination notice saying she was “not a good fit.”
“I’m disappointed that I never even got the chance to do my job,” said Carnes. “It’s kind of a classic judging a book by its cover story instead and, of course, that’s incredibly disappointing, especially coming from an arts organization whose part of their ethos is that radical and fearless self-expression is a part of their dynamic.”
Carnes’ lawyer, Owen Bement, says she is considering her options.
Bement points to the CROWN Act, saying in part, “In Maryland, BROS may not lawfully separate my client because it believes one group of people may have a certain hairstyle while others may not. That is as clear cut a violation of Maryland’s anti-discrimination laws as I have ever seen.”
OK. Cultural appropriation bad. No more rap music for white folks.
Works for me.
Working with “progressives” is risky business. One risk is you’ll never know when or why you’ll get cancelled.
In a way, it’s like being a radical leader during the French Revolution. You’re a hero of the people one day. Dragged to the guillotine the next.
🫤
How many white cultural appropriations have blacks taken?
In a way, it’s like being a radical leader during the French Revolution. You’re a hero of the people one day. Dragged to the guillotine the next.
Kind of like being The Gators head coach.
That’s what I’m thinking as well. Fairly or unfairly, whe was not accepted even before this little controversy.
If they want to avoid being sued, somebody better cook up better grounds for dismissal. This Gal is not going to let it go without some pushback.
That other go to hairstyle for those who want to Set it and Forget it would be the Dreadlocks. To me, most Dreadlocks look messy , poorly groomed and possibly in need of delousing.
What probably happened: She got the attention and admiration of a certain man. This man has a girlfriend who felt threatened, and began spreading negative presumptions about the New Girl in order to eliminate the threat from their workplace. It is a very old kind of story.
> If they want to avoid being sued… <
If she’s an at-will employee (no contract), she can be fired for any reason. Or for no reason at all.
But here’s the interesting thing. She’s got a civil rights claim. She can fairly argue that she was fired just because she’s white. That would supersede any “at-will” laws.
Oh, how I hope she gets a bulldog lawyer, and sues them into bankruptcy.
I don’t care if white people want to wear their hair in cornrows anymore than I care if a black woman wants to dye her hair blonde. It’s hair. I’ve been shaving my head for 30+ years, even back when you were considered to be a “skinhead.” That didn’t make me racist then, and women wearing their hair in cornrows doesn’t make them racist now.
If she was walking around claiming she’s entitled or that she’s something she’s not (i.e., black), that’s a different story. My guess is she’s just one of God’s lost children.
Corn rows? Really????
YGBSM.
Morons complaining about this need to be hauled off to a third-world country and dropped off. That’ll give them something to complain about.
Democrats and their followers are angry children.
Afros are the only natural black hairstyle, anything else is cultural appropriation.
I guess they won’t like my rap opera version of Oedipus Rex. MFer is about half the lyrics. I’m hoping to get Samuel L. Jackson to lead the chorus.
Am I the only one who find it ironic that some black person — which this undoubtedly was — should use the English language (or the ebonic variant thereof) to accuse a White person of cultural appropriation?
And probably while wearing Nike sneakers?
There is archeological evidence of Europeans wearing corn rows more than 20,000 years ago. And the (dot) Indians were wearing dreadlocks 3500 years ago.
But there is exactly ZERO evidence that either corn rows or dreads originated in the Dark Continent.
Silly me.
I thought a black person was facing corporate criticism because of a black hairstyle.
Are they going to terminate any Black employees with straightened hair or blonde, red hair and wearing European style clothing? If your going to cave on BS cultural appropriation then be equal or you are discriminating.
If there’s a bustle in her cornrow, don’t be alarmed now.
So, she took cultural appropriation to the next level?
For my money, the most attractive hairstyle for a Black woman is a a moderate length, nicely kept Afro. Men too, for that matter.
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