Adele's Notting Hill Carnival tribute divides opinion as she shares photo with hair in Bantu knots

A photograph of Adele wearing a traditional African hairstyle while marking what would have been the day of Notting Hill Carnival has divided opinion on social media.

The 32-year-old chart-topping superstar posted a picture of her wearing a Jamaican flag string bikini to mark the annual festival, which has gone online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Adele also wore her hair in Bantu knots – small coiled buns typically associated with people of African descent.

The Tottenham-born singer captioned the post: "Happy what would be Notting Hill Carnival my beloved London."

The post has been liked by more than three million people, and 66,000 comments have been posted.

However, Adele was quickly accused of "cultural appropriation" for the style of her hair.

A Twitter user said: “If 2020 couldn’t get anymore bizarre, Adele is giving us Bantu knots and cultural appropriation that nobody asked for. This officially marks all of the top white women in pop as problematic. Hate to see it.”

Another said: "If you haven’t quite understood cultural appropriation, look at @Adele’s last Instagram post. She should go to jail no parole for this."

Writing in the comments section of the Instagram post, a user said: "Bantu knots are NOT to be worn by white people in any context, period."

But many social media users have come to Adele’s defence, arguing she was free to wear her hair however she liked.

A comment from a fan, which was liked by nearly 1,000 Instagram users, said: "To the people who wanna learn sth: Notting Hill Carnival started in the 60s in order to CELEBRATE Caribbean culture.

"Everyone wears this attire in order to celebrate so this is NOT a cultural appropriation, it’s a normal celebration, ridiculous that people talk bout it this much."

One Twitter user added: "Reading tweets about Adele, it's so strange seeing lots of non-Jamaicans trying to cancel Adele, while I see lots of Jamaicans actually praising her 4 showing appreciation to their culture.

"Maybe we should let people decide 4 themselves whether they think something is ok or not?"

The singer’s celebrity friends also appeared to approve of the look.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell, whose mother was born in Jamaica, commented with two love heart emojis and two pictures of the Jamaican flag.

Jamaican musician Popcaan also appeared to be a fan, sharing a fist emoji and a love heart.

And actress Tessa Thompson, who stars in sci-fi TV series Westworld, commented with a flame emoji.

The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event that celebrates black culture.

Adele, who has attracted attention for her weight loss, shared on Instagram earlier this month that reading Glennon Doyle’s third memoir made her feel as if she "flew into her body for the very first time".

The singer shared a recommendation for Untamed: Stop Pleasing, Start Living with her more than 38 million followers, saying before she read the book she "thought we were meant to be stressed and dishevelled, confused and selfless like a Disney character!"

Adele, who split from husband Simon Konecki last year, also recently shared a snap celebrating "Queen" Beyonce, following the release of the visual album Black Is King.

Adele was pictured with her curly hair down while raising her hand in tribute to Beyonce.