"Unnatrual": Serena Williams Slams New York City Hotel For Cotton Plant Display

Tennis legend Serena Williams has criticised a New York City hotel for cotton plant decoration in its hallway. 

Posting a story on Instagram, she showed a vase with a cotton plant on a table and asked her followers for their thoughts about the display. "Alright, everyone. How do we feel about cotton as decoration?"

"Personally, for me, it doesn't feel great," the 44-year-old added. As an African-American, Williams' discomfort is believed to be linked to cotton's history in the US. Enslaved Black people were forced to pick cotton under harsh conditions.

According to US History, 95 per cent of the country's African American population was enslaved in 1820. The expansion of cotton plantations led to an exponential growth in slavery. 

Williams, who was in the city to support the launch of a collaboration between Kim Kardashian's Skims brand and Nike, posted another story in which she held a piece of the cotton from the hotel decoration while speaking into the camera.

She describes it as feeling like "nail polish remover cotton" before touching it, cringing, and stepping out of the frame. She grabbed one of the cotton balls off the stem, rubbed it across her fingernail, and shuddered. "So actually, it feels like nail polish remover cotton... unnatural," she said.

Recently, Williams faced criticism online for partnering with a company called Ro, which makes GLP-1 medicines, used for weight loss, according to Page Six.

This wasn't the first time Serena Williams publicly criticised a hotel. In 2024, she drew headlines after publicly calling out the five-star Peninsula Paris hotel when she and her children were denied a table at its rooftop restaurant, according to US Weekly.

Later, the hotel apologised, stating that the rooftop was fully booked and that the tables Williams thought were available belonged to another dining area.