Camila Cabello was just accused of having a dancer in Blackface during a recent performance
so she took to Twitter to explain herself to followers, but some fans just aren’t
buying her explanation.
Let’s break this down.
On Thursday night, Camila Cabello performed a live version of her latest single “Don’t
Go Yet” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Following the performance, she shared a clip from the performance on Twitter writing, quote,
“the familia invaded @FallonTonight last night,” adding “on my team we try to create
a culture of kindness, joy, & love & you could feel that this week.
She continued to gush about her community, sharing, quote “None of this could be possible
without the dream team that makes it happen & the fans that continue to support.”
And while her post and ‘80s themed performance seemed innocent enough at first, that was
until some viewers noticed that one of Camila’s dancers had on makeup that drastically darkened
his skin tone.
This led some people to accuse Camilla of using blackface as part of her performance.
One fan shared a tweet in response to the performance saying, quote, “So we’re not
gonna talk about your dancer being in black face and you allowing it?”
For her part, Camilla did reply to her original Tweet to address accusations that were racking
up on Twitter.
She shared a screenshot of the dancer in question with a notes app explanation that read, quote,
“Hey! so this dude was just supposed to be a white man with a terrible spray tan.
We purposefully tried to pull together a multicultural group of performers, the expectation was not
that everyone in the performance needed to be Latin”
She continued to explain herself, adding, quote “There are white people, African American
people, Latin people, etc. and so the point wasn’t to try to make everyone look Latin
either.
There are a lot of people in the performance who are not.”
She concluded her note saying, quote, “The point was to try to make each person look
like an over-the-top 80’s character just like in the video, including a white dude
with a terrible orange spray tan.”
But, some fans and users just weren’t pleased
with that response.
One user, shared, quote, “You're 24 years old and you're not a kid anymore, stop acting
like one.
Honestly, that excuse just made it worse,”
They added, quote “It was better not to say anything.
It's not the first time this has happened and it's always the same excuse.
I love you with all my heart but that was really [a] shame.
And yet, another Twitter user shared, quote, “So I see that Camila Cabello came out of
racist rehab, just to relapse again”
The user was talking about a previous race related issue Camila received backlash for
regarding old Tumblr posts that contained the N-word.
At the time, Camilla also took to Twitter, captioning a notes app post with, “I’m
sorry from the bottom of my heart”
According to an interview she did with People at the time, she also took racial healing
sessions after those Tumblr posts surfaced, sharing quote,
"It created a space where I was held accountable," adding, “You get corrected, you have homework,
and you learn.
That's how you move forward.
Now I know better, so I can do better."
The dancer in question, however, didn’t help Camilla’s defense.
He shared a photo of himself during the performance on Instagram with an emoji of a woman with
skin darker than his saying quote, "Emoji fashion on point!"
And while there were also some fans coming to Camila’s defense, tweeting things like,
“If they didn’t get the joke.
F**k em.
Everyone wants to be offended about something I swear.”
And, “Society is Over sensitive and at this point is actually boring they want to create
drama for everything”
There were many other fans pointing out to Camila that despite her intention, she offended
many people and should apologize, as her notes app explanation didn’t exactly include one
like this person who said:
“like y’all clearly didn’t achieve the vibe you wanted, and it never should have
been attempted.
I don’t personally love your ‘explanation’, but regardless of your intentions, people
ARE offended by what you did.
You need to apologize and do better.”
And, “girl from the moment that someone feels offended with this, you should apologize...i'm
your fan but i'm disappointed with you :(“
These conversations are definitely delicate and we will be sure to keep track of this
story as it unfolds and keep you posted on any further developments.
For more on Camilla you can click right over here to watch another Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know your thoughts on all of this in the comment section below.
I’m your host sussan mourad, you can find me on socials @Sussan_Mourad, see you guys
next time!