Actress Gabrielle Union stands in contrast to Chaka Khan who blasted Clive Davis for hosting his annual pre-Grammy dinner while Whitney Houston‘s body laid dead only a few floors above. Clive and all the plethora of celebrities who attended were chastised for not properly honoring Houston. In an interview with radio host TT Torez, Gabrielle Union revealed her decision to attend had more to do with defending Whitney then dishonoring her legacy.
“It was a tough night. I hope people understand that everyone is using the term “party,” and technically when you gather large groups of people in a space … I guess that’s the way of describing it, but I think that when you’re thinking of Hollywood award season party, this wasn’t the typical experience.”
“First of all, pretty much everyone I know who went were in shock and very upset […] I think what happened, at least with me and Sanaa [Lathan] is we were watching TV, and you start to see these reporters trash her. And in our community, she wasn’t negative. If anything, she was the most fun, inspiring, nice person in my eyes. She went out of her way to be nice, and she would take you aside and grab your face and say ‘Baby! I’m so proud of you.’ We were watching TV, and this one reporter in particular kept saying ‘it doesn’t surprise me to report,’ and he said it like 8 times […] It was so irritating! So Puffy reached out to us and was like, ‘We have to go and say something different. There needs to be a better balanced view.’ So, we showed up, and it was very somber, it was very strange, but all of us just wanted to let people know out there that people will show up for Whitney Houston no matter what. We will speak kindly of her. We’re not going to let you trash her on a night where everyone could have just stayed home and mourned in their own way. People showed up and spoke so highly of her. So, I am glad that America and the world, her family and her friends and all of her fans got to hear the people in the entertainment community say kind things about her.”
What do you think of Gabrielle’s take on her decision to attend the dinner?
