Brooklyn Beckham turned 18 on March 4th. There was quite a hoopla on social media about it, too. Mom Victoria posted this little montage in tribute and Dad David went nuts with the throwbacks. Of course, once you hit that magical age you are legally allowed to get a tattoo. Obviously, the Beckham family likes their body art so Brooklyn has probably been thinking about his first tattoo for ages now. Brooklyn went to family friend Mark Mahoney for the work and put the whole thing on his Instagram – every excruciating step. First, he posted this:

Thank you so much Mark x just like dads

A post shared by bb (@brooklynbeckham) on Apr 1, 2017 at 7:10pm PDT

then a close-up:

Honoured to have my first tattoo done by dads friend Mark Mahoney

A post shared by bb (@brooklynbeckham) on Apr 1, 2017 at 7:51pm PDT

But it was the actual reveal that is catching the most attention and I don’t think I need to tell you why:

And we are done x

A post shared by bb (@brooklynbeckham) on Apr 2, 2017 at 10:33am PDT

“just like dads” – of all the 40+ tattoos David sports, this is the one he chooses? David has no more business than Brooklyn having the likeness of a Native American chief in full headdress anywhere on their person. Certainly, some fans were applauding Brooklyn but others were pointing out the insensitivity of his choice:

“You guys live in England and he’s getting a tattoo of a Native American? #futureregrets,” – @xdsebxd.

“Ignorant white people with no regard for the violent history of indigenous peoples, for genocide that is still perpetuated today by society and government alike. We are not fictional characters from some far away time. We are not sensationalised, and generalised images for you to tattoo onto your privileged white arm.” – @lil__tryrant

“I feel like this is offensive just like it’s offensive to wear a Native American headdress at Coachella. It’s called cultural appropriation… it would be one thing if you were honoured with one by an actual Native American… but if you weren’t, then honestly you have no business wearing it. ” – @crayray_92490

Brooklyn Beckham’s tattoo… does anybody ever get tatted with white men’s bearded faces from 1800s or no? Not a thing?

— Ta’k’imi?dimi? (@takimilxwe) April 3, 2017

I mean – yeah. You have to live in a pretty tall ivory tower to not have heard people trying to educate others as to why cultural appropriation is damaging. Maybe – maybe – this image has some deep significance to the two men. Possibly Brooklyn was so blinded by his bond to his father that it affected his judgement of how best to display their connection. We don’t know yet – Brooklyn has not responded to any of the controversy. Since he is still posting photos of this without any sort of statement, I think we can assume he is oblivious to the controversy. And this is a tattoo, not a t-shirt or ball cap that he can remove after he’s caught on. Once (if?) Brooklyn is enlightened, hopefully this will serve as a permanent reminder to remove his head from his @ss and educate himself.

Completely superficial but credit where credit is due, Mahoney did lovely work on the art.

Daily_Express: Brooklyn Beckham pays homage to dad David with his first ever tattoo. https://t.co/KGQmMXBq42 pic.twitter.com/JhXMteK7ux

— . (@GAGAFEATLARRY) April 2, 2017

Photo credit: Instagram and WENN Photos