Serena Williams unsettled by cotton decor in New York hotel

Serena Williams said she was unsettled by a cotton plant displayed as decoration in a New York City hotel, posting video to her Instagram Stories on Thursday as she walked down a hallway and approached a vase of cotton branches. In the clips, Williams asked viewers, "Alright, everyone. How do we feel about cotton as decoration?" and added, "Personally, for me, it does not feel great," before plucking a cotton boll, rubbing it against her thumbnail and visibly recoiling.

Williams did not identify the hotel. A representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The former world number one was in New York to attend events tied to the SKIMS and Nike collaboration, appearing at a launch dinner for the partnership earlier in the week.

The reaction to Williams's short video was swift and divided on social media. Supporters praised her candor and said the display could be painful for many given the plant's historical associations. Critics called the response an overreaction and argued that a decorative arrangement should not be construed as inherently offensive. One commenter on a repost of the clip wrote, "As a Black person I definitely know the feeling and it aint a...