Zendaya Sparks Backlash Over 700BC Iranian Artefact Earrings at London Photocall
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 21
Zendaya Sparks Backlash Over 700BC Iranian Artefact Earrings at London Photocall
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 21
Summary
Archaeologists and art historians condemned Zendaya’s use of earrings made from 700BC Iranian artefacts during a London photocall for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, calling it culturally insensitive and ethically troubling.
Barron London said the pieces were bought in 2025 from jeweller Glenn Spiro and are attributed to the Ziwiye hoard, a cache discovered in north-western Iran in 1947 and later dispersed through antique markets.
Critics said the central issue is that the earrings were fashioned from looted antiquities, arguing that wearing them as red-carpet accessories strips them of spiritual and historical meaning and turns heritage into fashion.
The timing intensified anger, with one scholar saying the press tour was glamorising Iranian antiquities while US military action is damaging sites in Iran.
The dispute lands amid wider scrutiny of Western custody and display of contested cultural objects, and adds to separate boycott calls over The Odyssey’s filming in occupied Western Sahara.