Video: Serena Williams Gripes Decorative Cotton Plant Makes Her Uncomfortable – She’s Worth $350 Million
Serena Williams, a wealthy and globally recognized tennis star, sparked controversy by posting a video on her Instagram Stories showing a cotton plant displayed as decoration in a New york City hotel hallway. She expressed discomfort with the use of cotton in this context, suggesting it “doesn’t feel great” and highlighting a piece she pulled from the arrangement, describing it as “feels like nail polish remover cotton.” Many interpreted her comments as an attempt to connect the cotton plant to the history of slavery and oppression. However, the reaction to her post was largely critical, with many people calling out the perceived performative nature of her outrage. Critics pointed out that Williams herself uses cotton regularly in clothing,bedding,and personal care,and suggested her focus on the plant was misplaced and divisive. The incident stirred debate on social media, with individuals emphasizing that her complaint did not meaningfully address the real and ongoing issues related to slavery and exploitation.
Serena Williams, one of the wealthiest athletes on the planet, decided Thursday to make a social media fuss about a plant in a hotel hallway.
The tennis star posted a video on her Instagram Stories showing a cotton plant in a vase at what appeared to be a New York City hotel.
“Alright, everyone. How do we feel about cotton as decoration?” Williams asked her 18.2 million followers.
Serena Williams calls out New York hotel for cotton plant décor in corridor — all while wearing a blonde wig pic.twitter.com/ooppLvckny
— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) September 26, 2025
“Personally, for me, it doesn’t feel great,” she added.
In a follow-up story, Williams held a piece of the cotton she had pulled from the arrangement.
Uncomfortable Serena Williams calls out NYC hotel’s cotton plant decoration: ‘Doesn’t feel great’#serenawilliams pic.twitter.com/7tlqlGM8vW
— MEAWW (@meawwofficial) September 26, 2025
She then commented that the cotton “feels like nail polish remover cotton.”
Her motive was pretty obvious.
She wanted to connect herself to oppression and slavery and probably sought to get someone in trouble, but it backfired.
Instagram’s Stories feature does not allow direct comments, but people who saw the posts found ways to call her out.
On a separate post, one critic fired back, “When cotton triggers you but you’re A-OK with Nike’s sweatshop practices.”
Another person wrote, “This is how screwed up our world is when you’re worrying about a cotton plant in a lobby of a hotel.”
Yet another user asked the obvious question: “Do you not wear cotton, have cotton socks, cotton balls in your home. Give me a break. I think they’re beautiful. It’s Fall.”
People also called her out on X:
Anything here made with COTTON🤡😳??
— LonePilgrim (@LonePilgrim53) September 26, 2025
Oooh is there COTTON in those clothes??
— WayneOfPayne (@PaynefullySane) September 26, 2025
Always got to have something to complain about? I guess you don’t mind your manicurist using cotton buds or using cotton tip ear buds to get the wax clogging your ears. Why can’t you just shut up and let things be
— LizzieDee (@LizzieDee1961) September 26, 2025
The truth is that Williams’ outrage was as performative as it was absurd.
She wears cotton. She sleeps on cotton. She dries off with cotton. She uses cotton on her nails.
Yet she feigns discomfort at seeing it in a vase at a hotel.
Even worse, she positioned herself near the suffering of actual victims of slavery by implying her feelings of offense were valid — as if she had been personally wronged.
Today, there are millions of people enslaved worldwide, but Williams, while sitting atop a fortune estimated at $350 million, chose to posture about a hotel decoration.
Her tantrum does nothing to help those who are truly oppressed.
It simply furthers division in a country already dealing with inflamed tensions.
This isn’t 2017. It isn’t a culture fight over Hobby Lobby fall decor, and Williams isn’t some struggling underdog.
She’s a global celebrity who was born in 1981, grew up in California, and is complaining about a plant that has been used worldwide to make common goods for millennia.
She was never a slave, her parents weren’t slaves, and she is probably farther removed from slavery than many people living globally today.
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