Archaeologist Annelise Baer recently found herself in the middle of a digital storm after she posted a video exploring the earrings Zendaya wore to the Odyssey screening. What started as an educational deep dive into historical artifacts turned into a situation where, in a follow-up video, she described the situation as “quite frankly terrifying,” complete with alleged vile comments and death threats.
Taking to her platforms on TikTok and Instagram, she noted, “Hi, I’m going to try to speak as clearly and succinctly as I can today so that nothing is misunderstood. Last week, a person who I do not know and who does not know me made a video criticizing me. While many of the points raised in her video are valid and are also things I agree with, it has created this whole larger situation that is quite frankly terrifying.”
In her first video, Baer explored the history of the earrings worn by Zendaya, two large gold discs. Baer pointed out that these gold discs were likely decorative elements from Iran for a larger outfit. She told her viewers that the sunburst or rosette design was quite common in the ancient world. She even highlighted examples from the Met and the Uluburun shipwreck to show her viewers that this aesthetic was a staple of royalty and nobility.
Her video was used as a reference by Page Six
Page Six reported that Zendaya worked with stylist Law Roach to pair a custom Jacquemus draped dress with Glenn Spiro earrings. The jewelry featured gold medallion plaques dating back to the first millennium BC. They pointed to Baer’s video, where she explained that the ancient accessories, which are owned by Barron London, are particularly interesting because they were not originally intended to be earrings. The pieces were repurposed by Spiro.
Baer made a follow-up video in response to the surprise that the earrings were real artifacts. She used the opportunity to open a conversation about the ethics of the situation.
“So I’m actually really glad that this specific video about Zendaya’s earrings at the Odyssey Photo Call popped off because this is an excellent reason for me to talk about the thing that I literally wrote my dissertation on, which is the reception and perception of artifacts, looted or otherwise, because these were very likely looted, and how both the reception and perception of an artifact changes when you change the way in which the artifact is presented,” she said.
“My question for all of you is, would you be caring this much about these artifacts if they had not been presented to you as gold earrings at a movie premiere and were instead simply part of a display case in the British Museum?” This question might be where things spiraled. Baer never mentioned who stitched her into a video. However, a video by ooopolish seems to fit the bill.
In her stitch, ooopolish admits that the question was good. However, she then criticized Baer for not asking the most important question of why the artifacts were taken from Iran in the first place and why they weren’t returned. Zohran Mamdani referred to a famous example recently, the Koh-i-noor, and joked he would talk to King Charles about it. Turns out, Britain also recently realized that it had a rare copy of the US Declaration of Independence tucked in a report.
Ooopolish presented a history of archaeologists of “keeping someone else’s history” by looting countries like Egypt of their artifacts. She alleged that Baer was participating in that narrative and framed it as being a “white” problem.
Irrespective of who made a video about Baer, she noted that the backlash allegedly included death threats. It forced her to disable comments in the videos about the earrings. “When I get on here, I try my very best to be a decent person, to stay in my lane, and to mind my business. I don’t come on the internet to make unsubstantiated claims or hot takes, and I don’t do this for attention.”
She challenged her viewers, saying, “If you genuinely have a problem with me or something that I’ve said, you can literally just send me a message or an email, and we can talk one-on-one like adults.” Baer also alleged that she was getting personal comments on topics like her looks.
The community was largely supportive. One follower mentioned, “I can’t imagine how wild some of those comments must have been. I genuinely enjoy watching your videos and appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us.” Another user defended Baer, stating, “I saw her video. It was mean-spirited. I thought she had good points, but it also seemed like she had no interest in giving you the benefit of the doubt.”
Published: Jul 18, 2026 09:02 am