This sit-down was very interesting to listen to. Throughout it, Perry spoke about not initially understanding why she received backlash from wearing her hair on cornrows and eating watermelon in a previous video, and dressing up as a geisha at the 2013 American Music Awards. The artist revealed that a friend of hers had to pull her aside and explain why this was wrong.
"She told me about the power in black women's hair and how beautiful it is and the struggle," Perry revealed. "I listened and I heard and I didn't know. I won't ever understand some of those things because of who I am. I will never understand, but I can educate myself and that's what I'm trying to do along the way."
When speaking about the AMAs, Perry said: "I didn't know that I did it wrong until I heard people saying that I did it wrong. It takes someone to say, out of compassion, out of love, 'Hey, this is what the origin is.'" She continued to speak about why someone explaining these things to her is more effective than getting harsh clap backs. "It's hard to hear those clap backs sometimes. Your ego just wants to turn from them," Perry said.
Later on in the interview, she admitted that she completely understood why she got so much criticisms, when she did all of this appropriation. "I have lots of privilege," she said. Perry also spoke about her bad Barack Obama joke, Migos and more.
Watch a clip of Katy Perry's interview with DeRay McKesson below.