*South African singer Tyla released a statement in response to the criticism over her appearance on “The Breakfast Club” when she refused to answer questions about her racial identity.
Co-host Charlamagne Tha God asked Tyla about her previous comments about being a “coloured” woman. When he asked her to clarify what it means, she refused to answer and her team shut down the question. Watch the moment in the X/Twitter clip below.
Several fans praised Tyla for not going there with Charlamagne. On X, one person came to her defense, writing, “… They have a problem with her identifying as a coloured person because ‘coloured’ is a racist construct but they don’t mind using the one drop rule to classify anyone who even has a black toenail as black, even though the one drop rule is also a racist construct created to specifically separate ‘pure white’ people from people with mixed ancestry? Interesting…”
Another person added, “Nobody cares that Tyla identifies as a mixed race person. People are fine acknowledging that she doesn’t identify as Black. Because of the connotation and history of the word “colored” in the United States nobody is going to call her “coloured” here in this market.”
@breakfastclubam asked #tyla about the “coloured” vs. black woman debate she remained silent and her team quickly hopped in. #browngirlgrinding #bgg pic.twitter.com/FAUqSRHNSj
— BROWN GIRL GRINDING (@LorenLorosa) June 13, 2024
A third added, “Do you know that not everything in the world revolves around America? She’s from South Africa and she’s coloured here!!! What don’t you understand.”
“The way Tyla’s manager shut down the question about her being coloured..love that for her! Imagine how tired we are!!!South Africans have been explaining this to Americans for over 6 months and they refuse to listen so there’s nothing more to say,” wrote X user @TheeAzanian.
Tyla took to her Instagram Story to set the record straight!
The Grammy Award-winning singer wrote: “I’M MIXED WITH BLACK/ZULU, IRISH, MAURITIAN/INDIAN, AND COLOURED.”
She added, “In SouthA I would be classified as a Coloured woman and other placed I would be classified as a Black woman. I don’t expect to be identified as Coloured outside of SouthA by anyone not comfortable doing so because I understand the weight of that word outside of SA. But, to close this conversation, I’m both Coloured in South Africa and a Black woman.
Check out Tyla’s full statement in the X post below, and watch her full “Breakfast Club” interview above.
pic.twitter.com/Jec9oraIAz
— Tyla (@Tyllaaaaaaa) June 13, 2024
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