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Hipster racism is an antic, or form of behaviour, whereby the individual acts in a way typically regarded as racism and defends the offending action as being performed irony or satire. Rachel Dubrofsky and Megan W. Wood have described it as being supposedly "too hip and self-aware to actually mean the racist stuff one expresses". This might include wearing blackface and other performances of stereotyped African Americans, use of the word nigger, and appropriating cultural dress. Talia Meer argues that hipster racism is rooted in what she calls "hipster exceptionalism", meaning "the idea that something ordinarily offensive or prejudiced is miraculously transformed into something clever, funny and socially relevant, by the assertion that said ordinarily offensive thing is ironic or satirical." As Leslie A. Hahner and Scott J. Varda described it, "those participating in acts of hipster racism understand those acts as racist when practiced by others, but rationalize their own racist performances through a presumed exceptionalism."
Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times characterized the appropriation of cultural artifacts as fashion without recognizing the significance of the article as hipster racism. Examples include wearing Native American , or more specifically, Urban Outfitters selling clothes with Navajo Nation and other Aboriginal and African tribal prints without giving tribute, acknowledgement, or compensation. Filmmaker Lena Dunham was described as a hipster racist when Dunham defended her Girls collaborator and screenwriter Murray Miller when he was accused of sexual assault by actress Aurora Perrineau, who is of mixed race.
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