Tinashe’s father is from Zimbabwe and her mother is of Danish, Norwegian, Irish and English heritage. (@tinashenow/Instagram)
Twitter users unleashed a slew of messages on singer Tinashe for her statements about experiencing colorism, but she says they were taken out of context.
“There’s colorism involved in the Black community, which is very apparent,” she told The Guardian Monday, June 12, after noting that her having a Black father and white mother was used “as another example of why I was different.” “It’s about trying to find a balance where I’m a mixed woman, and sometimes I feel like I don’t fully fit into the Black community; they don’t fully accept me, even though I see myself as a Black woman.
“That disconnect is confusing sometimes. I am what I am.”
Tinashe largely discussed her experiences in the music industry, which included her struggles with getting her sophomore album off the ground and the lack of support for Black female artists in the industry. Because of that, many Twitter users assumed she blamed Black music fans for her lack of success, as her highest charting single, 2014’s “2 On,” only made it to No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Tinashe not gonna get on my dark skinned nerves today with this color stuff. That ain't your real struggle, boo.
— hot koko 🍫 (@xKRAYneC) June 13, 2017
Dear Tinashe,
It's not a colorism issue. That fact is, we just don't see it for u sis.
Sincerely,
Everybody pic.twitter.com/nDuUJ8SyXB— HOWL TO THE MOOOON 🌕 (@marvelouslythiq) June 13, 2017
Tinashe's issue is her image. All she gotta do is switch it up and fire everyone in charge of her marketing and PR. Hire from the TL. Lol
— Indominous Flex (@thirdeyesquints) June 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/youngsinick/status/874621901011812352
https://twitter.com/Imani_Yvonne/status/874616593447350273
Some questioned why Tinashe couldn’t speak up about how colorism affected her.
Why do people feel like Tinashe has no place to speak on colorism bc she's mixed lightskin? colorism negatively affects EVERYBODY. https://t.co/cMRjMwJ2NE
— HZL ⚡️ (@hazelthundrr) June 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/HollyGoNightly1/status/874613882152726528
One pointed out what Tinashe was really referring to when she discussed colorism.
https://twitter.com/spxcetime/status/874626557419171840
And Tinashe spent part of Tuesday making it known that her remarks were misconstrued.
…because things are completely taken out of context. As they have been here.
— TINASHE (@Tinashe) June 13, 2017
That’s not what I said.
— TINASHE (@Tinashe) June 13, 2017
I was not talking about colorism in the industry. This is taken out of context.
— TINASHE (@Tinashe) June 13, 2017
No. that’s not what I was saying.
— TINASHE (@Tinashe) June 13, 2017
The article framed it as such, about success in music, where as the conversation we had was about my experiences growing up in general.
— TINASHE (@Tinashe) June 13, 2017
