Rapper Mulatto took to Twitter on Dec. 1 to deny the allegations that she said “colorism doesn’t exist” during a conversation on the Clubhouse app after being scrutinized on social media.
The “B–h from the South” lyricist wrote, “I WOULD NEVER SAY NO S**T LIKE COLORISM DOESN’T EXIST!” She also asked people to stop spreading lies. “Please stop with the false narrative!” Mulatto started trending on Twitter on Nov. 30 after a user tweeted, “why would mulatto go on Clubhouse and say colorism isn’t real???????”
Clubhouse is an app where users can interact with a celebrity in different chatrooms they are invited to, regardless of the topic. The discussions are audio-only and will disappear once completed. Upon learning of the accusation, many people bashed the rapper over the alleged comment.
“Did it not occur that somebody who *voluntarily* chose the stage name ‘Mulatto’ has malformed opinions on Blackness, or…..?”
“So Mulatto said that colorism doesn’t exist but goes by Mulatto…am I understanding correctly?”
“Currently pretending to be surprised that someone named Mulatto doesn’t believe colorism exists.”
“You should just automatically assume any person calling themselves ‘Mulatto’ is a colorist…. Like, you couldn’t come up with something else, Miss. Lousiana Purchase??”
The rapper — who is of mixed race — has received criticism in the past for her insensitivity to choosing her stage name. The Spanish word mulatto is derived from the Latin term mulo, meaning mule, which is a hybrid animal born of a horse and a donkey. By the 1500s the Spanish term was used to describe mixed-race offspring of Black and white parentage, and it came into use in America by the Colonial era. Knowing its derogatory history, the “He Said, She Said” rapper defended her name in 2019, responding to a Twitter user claiming that the 21-year-old’s moniker stopped them from supporting her.
She wrote, “What’s wrong w Reclaiming a slur & being a voice for a whole culture of people? Little mixed girls come up to me all the time & tell me they relate to my story, and I’m VERY proud of that! Plus, the same ppl who got a problem w my name use N***a in their vocab so.”
In October, during an interview with Hip Hop Dx at the 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards, Mulatto hinted that she might change her controversial stage name to her nickname, Big Latto. “I can’t say too much because we’re working on something right now, but I would be lying to say it hasn’t crossed my mind before,” she said.
The Ohio native also added, “It is a controversy that I hear and see every day as far as my name goes, so I would be lying to say no, I never thought of that. But I can’t say too much because right now because it’s going to be a part of something bigger.”
