Sir Mix-A-Lot surprised by Blake Lively backlash

Sir Mix-A-Lot was "surprised" after actress Blake Lively came under fire for using a lyric from his hit Baby Got Back to poke fun a Cannes Film Festival photo.

The 28-year-old found herself at the center of a new controversy after taking to Instagram.com on Wednesday (18May16) and posting a snap of herself from the rear in a stunning gold sequinned gown.

It wasn't so much the red carpet photo that led to the drama, but the caption she posted, adding "L.A. face and Oakland booty" - drawing attention to the fact that her bottom is getting bigger with her second pregnancy, and using a line from the Sir Mix-A-Lot track Baby Got Back (I Like Big Butts).

Many followers found the reference racially insensitive, and took aim at the actress for being "disrespectful" towards women of color by suggesting the African-American women of Oakland, California have larger butts than their white peers.

"Another day, another rich white woman using WOC's (women of color) bodies as a punchline and commodity," one user tweeted.

While Blake has yet to respond to the backlash, rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot himself has come to the former Gossip Girl star's defense, admitting he initially didn't see anything wrong with her caption.

"A friend of mine, he said, 'Dude, I know Katy Perry did this, one of the Kardashians did this, but I don’t understand, what did this girl do to make everybody p**sed off?'," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "So I checked it out, and looked at it and I was kind of... I liked it. You know, I like stuff like that, but I was a little surprised at the criticism."

He continued, "If what Blake Lively meant by that comment was, 'Oh my goodness, I've gained weight, I look horrible,' if that’s what she meant - and I doubt that she did - then I’m with the critics. But no one in the world is gonna tell me that a woman that wears that dress is thinking that she’s fat. No, I’m sorry, it just doesn’t happen. It sounds like to me like she was giving the line props.

"I think she’s saying, 'I've got that Oakland booty' or 'I'm trying to get it.' I think we have to be careful what we wish for as African-Americans, because if you say she doesn’t have the right to say that, then how do you expect her to at the same time embrace your beauty? I mean, I don’t get it. I think it’s almost a nod of approval."

He concluded, "That song was written with African-American women in mind, but trust me when I tell you that there are women out there with those curves everywhere and they were once considered fat. And that’s what the song was about. It wasn’t about some race battle."