As the colorism conversation continues to take over the “Basketball Wives” reunion, Malaysia Pargo has been brought into the fray.
Toward the end of the first part of the reunion that aired Oct. 16, Pargo challenged cast member O.G.‘s claim that some cast mates are colorist.
“I don’t even know what complexion you used to be,” O.G. charged after accusing Pargo of wanting to be in the cast’s inner circle. “What complexion did you used to be, Malaysia? What complexion did you use to be before you bleached?”
Not quite hearing what O.G. said because she was pointing out all the brown-skinned members of the cast, co-star and executive producer Shaunie O’Neal noted that O.G. had accused Pargo of bleaching.
“Girl, please. Girl, please,” Pargo said before encouraging O.G. to “stop tearing each other down.”
“We don’t like you because you be doing some bulls–t,” Pargo said, negating O.G.’s claim that the cast discriminates against her because of her skin tone.
But Pargo didn’t let the former pro football star get away with her bleaching allegations.
Taking to Instagram Monday, Pargo uploaded a side-by-side photo of herself as a young girl in a Gucci t-shirt next to a present-day selfie in another Gucci top.
“Baby M vs grown up M,” she captioned the photo before leaving a rolling eye and shrug emoji.
The image seemed to serve as proof that Pargo has been a brown-skinned girl all her life.
It’s not clear if O.G. got the memo since she has not reacted on social media as of Tuesday morning. However, fans of Pargo promptly took notice of what she was doing and swiftly gave her their support.
“Beautiful! I can’t believe ‘Toe-G’ had the nerve to pull a complexion card or saying about you bleached. She’s insecure and really NOT ALL good”
“That girl tried it… same EVERYTHING!”
“People be reaching. I think homegirl is not comfortable in the skin she is in. Bleaching where?’
“Bleach where 😂”
Fans of the show, however, weren’t convinced.
“Half 🌜 face bye”
“But why not post season 1 vs season 8 pics?? This girl literally went under the pyramids to dig up 1 ancient pic where the lighting may have made her look lighter. If you don’t go somewhere LaQuisha…..”
While Pargo has O.G. handled, “Basketball Wives” EP O’Neal is set to have a sit-down with reunion host Marc Lamont Hill discussing the problem with colorism on part 2 of the reunion. Specifically, she’s addressing O.G.’s claim that she is mistreated because of her darkness.
“I hate that she feels that way,” O’Neal said in a clip from the episode, which airs Wednesday. “I do. I feel horrible. … It is a painful subject. Dark-skinned women definitely get it way harder in society in general. I totally understand it, I get it. But I believe here at ‘Basketball Wives’ we work so hard for that not to be an issue.”