Overview

• Serena Williams posted an Instagram Story from a Manhattan hotel questioning a cotton plant used as decoration and briefly handling the fibers.
• Social media users accused her of performative outrage and pointed to the couple’s ownership of Radcliffe Bailey’s Monument for a Promise, which incorporates cotton.
• Alexis Ohanian responded on X, calling the attempt to use the artwork as a 'gotcha' 'breathtakingly stupid' and emphasizing the piece’s intentional symbolism.
• He shared an AI-generated explanation describing the sculpture’s cotton as a reference to slavery’s history and a gesture toward a brighter future.
• Williams has not offered further public clarification, and the hotel has not issued a statement, though she posted a video showing a large bouquet of roses from Ohanian.