Zendaya and Giuliana Rancic Controversy Update: Disney Star Accepts Giuliana's Apology, Urges Supporters to do the Same

By Staff Reporter - 25 Feb '15 20:52PM

Disney Channel star Zendaya has accepted Giuliana Rancic's apology after the Fashion Police host made a racially offensive joke about her Oscars hairstyle.On Wednesday after Rancic issued a second public apology (this one on-air) for her comments on Fashion Police, the former Disney star again took to Instagram with an eloquent, measured response.

"Giuliana, I appreciate your apology and I'm glad it was a learning experience for you and for the network," Zendaya wrote Wednesday on Instagram. "I hope others negatively affected by her words can also find it in their hearts to accept her apology as well. From a quote we all know by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 'Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.' Let's be that light and spread that love."

'Body shaming and other hurtful tactics will never get the job done,' Zendaya said in a statement, adding that she was 'glad' it was a learning experience for 40-year-old Rancic and the E! Network.

After Guiliana said on Fashion Police that she thought Zendaya smelled of 'patchouli' and 'weed' because she had dreadlocks, Zendaya posted on Instagram that her comments were offensive and hurtful.

"Studies have shown that even though we try to act without prejudice, sometimes it's just hidden inside us due to our past or surroundings," she wrote. "That hidden prejudice is often influential in our actions. It's our job to spot these issues within others and ourselves and destroy them before they become hurtful. I have so many people looking up to me, that I couldn't be scared, wait it out, nor could I just stand up for me; I had to do it for WE."

"It is important in this journey to remember that just because someone has inflicted hurt upon us, it does not give us the right to do the same. Body shaming and other hurtful tactics will never get the job done," she wrote. "As hard as it was to stop MYSELF from being ignorant and from posting the first mean words that came to my mind because I was hurt, I had to think about the bigger picture. Instead I sat for two hours on my phone, doing my research and formulating an educated response."