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Niki Ashton speaks as she participates in the first debate of the federal NDP leadership race with Guy Caron, Charlie Angus and Peter Julian, in Ottawa on Sunday, March 12, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

NDP leadership candidate Niki Ashton has removed a meme from her social media accounts after being criticized for appropriating Black culture.

Ashton had posted a meme on Facebook and Twitter referencing the lyrics to the left from the Beyonc song Irreplaceable.

A Black Lives Matter Vancouver Twitter account accused her of appropriating black culture to promote her campaign by using the line from the song.

Ashton replied that she removed the post, saying her campaign hadnt intend to appropriate or offend.

Ashton, who is campaigning to move the NDP further leftward, has gone out of her way to pitch her leadership bid as appealing to minority groups.

At her campaign launch in Ottawa, she had praised Black Lives Matter for challenging racism in Canada, saying that the movement has made it very clear how real racism is in our own country.

While she put out that social media fire, she was then promptly criticized online for acquiescing in a knee-jerk fashion.

Ashton is a fan of Beyonc she said at the first NDP leadership debate on the weekend that Beyonce is one of her favourite musicians, and tweeted in February that she should get album of the year (which ultimately went to Adele over Beyonc at the Grammys).

Heres the song she referenced:

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Ashton removes Beyonc meme after backlash from Black Lives Matter - iPolitics.ca (subscription)