Overview

• Williams posted brief Instagram Stories from a Manhattan hotel showing a vase of cotton stems, asking how people feel about the display and saying it “doesn’t feel great” as she compared the texture to nail polish remover cotton.
• She did not identify the property, and no hotel representative had publicly commented as the clips circulated widely across social platforms.
• Reactions ranged from support citing cotton’s ties to slavery and generational trauma to dismissals that described the arrangement as common seasonal décor.
• Critics accused Williams of inconsistency, pointing to her ties to apparel brands that use cotton and to past decorative uses of cotton highlighted by commentators.
• The moment unfolded during her New York visit for the SKIMS × Nike launch, extending broader scrutiny of her public image that recently included debate over her GLP-1 sponsorship.