Celebrity News
Since Tyla became an international star following the success of "Water," there has been an ongoing conversation about her racial identity. The South African-born artist has shared that she considers herself "coloured," which is a term South Africans use to describe people who are of mixed race. However, it seems her words were taken out of context to mean that she doesn't identify as a Black woman. Also, because the word "colored" has a racist history in the U.S., a lot of Black people were outraged by her using that word to describe herself.
The conversation was brought up again after the Grammy award-winning artist's The Breakfast Club episode dropped on Thursday. Charlamagne Tha God asked her about the controversial topic, and her team immediately interjected. (It was also implied that The Breakfast Club hosts were given a list of topics to stay away from, but it appears Charlamagne ignored it.) Tyla ultimately didn't answer the question but later put out a statement on X, formerly Twitter, after the clip made its rounds on social media.
"Yoh guys," she started. "Never denied my blackness, idk where that came from... I'm mixed with black/Zulu, irish, Mauritian/Indian and Coloured. In Southa I would be classified as a Coloured woman and other places I would be classified as a black women. Race is classified differently in different parts of the world."
She continued, "I don't expect to be identified as Coloured outside of Southa by anyone not comfortable doing so because i understand the weight of that word outside of SA, But to close this conversation, I'm both Coloured in South Africa and a black women...
"As a woman for the culture. It's and not or... with that being said ASAMBEEE"
Asambe is Zulu for "let's go!"
No matter who we are or where we are, it's important to educate ourselves about what we don't know versus condemning others for being different. Hopefully, this will be Tyla's last time having to explain her race and ethnicity publicly.
Tyla Speaks On Breaking In America, Dance Inspiration, Kai Cenat + More
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