Singer DaniLeigh recently made another attempt at cleaning up the mess caused after she shared a snippet from a new song titled “Yellow Bone.”
Late last week, the “Easy” singer faced backlash after critics on social media accused her of glorifying colorism in her music. Shortly after, the 26-year-old took to her Twitter account and, in a series of posts, delivered a back-handed apology.
On Sunday, Jan. 24, the Miami native returned to Instagram with another apology, which later proved to do more damage than those previously released. The singer-songwriter appeared before a camera wearing minimal makeup and hair styled in various blond braiding patterns. She spoke directly to those who might’ve misinterpreted her intentions when she previewed the record.
“Hey guys, it’s DaniLegih, and I just wanted to address what’s going with me right now. I think it’s super important ’cause I definitely feel super misunderstood,” she began the clip. “I think people twisted it into thinking, like, I’m trying to bash another woman, another skin tone, that was never my intention. I wasn’t brought up like that. I never looked at my skin as a privilege. I never looked at me as ‘I’m better than somebody because of my skin tone.’ “
Dani expressed that she sees women of darker tone celebrate their skin all the time and wanted to do the same.
“If you look at me, I’m light-skinned, I’m a yellow bone. In my opinion, that’s just what I am,” she continued. She added, “So, it wasn’t something that I looked at so deeply. Which I can see why people will take it deeply, so I understand, and I’m sorry that I wasn’t sensitive to the topic when I wrote my comment, ‘why are you guys taking so personal?’ Because it can be a personal thing to certain people because colorist is a real thing, so I do get it. But I’m not that. I’m not a colorist. I’m not a racist.”
To further prove her case, the singer noted that she was dating a “whole chocolate man.” The comment was seemingly referencing her relationship with rapper DaBaby. She added, “I have beautiful dark-skinned friends.” Dani concluded her statement by saying that she hoped viewers would take her apology with an “open heart and genuine mind.”
While many did just that and showed their support and praised her for taking accountability, some critics did the complete opposite. One Instagram user replied to the post, saying, “Awww girl nooo😔 i understand you wanted to explain yourself to people that were hurt but this video might have made it worse 😩.”
Another user commented, “BrownSkin women have to make songs about their BrownSkin because they get bashed for having BrownSkin …. That person added, “same thing goes for why we say “BLACK owned” and not white owned .. the reason BrownSkin women talk about their skin is obvious if you claim you are educated in colorism.”
Over on Twitter, the dragging ensued, and her race was brought into question. Although both of her parents, Vladimir and Vicky Curiel, are from the Dominican Republic, the star never claimed to be Afro-Latina.
“Danileigh made an “apology” video where she wore box braids, spoke in a blaccent, denied understanding colorism or light skin privilege, and said she had “melanated” friends so she couldn’t be racist,” a third person wrote. “Unbelievable lmao.”
“Someone tell white woman dani leigh that we ain’t listening to this video and make her take that out her hair before i yank it out,” one person expressed.
