Oh, how the mighty fall. R&B singer, Sabrina Claudio, caught some heat from social media this week when her old tweets resurfaced of her disparaging Black women and “Hispanic girls.”
The up and coming singer is best known for her sensual, whispery voice, that fits best with a bubble bath and a glass of wine. This backlash came directly after her release of two singles, Don’t Let Me down featuring Khalid and All To You.
Claudio was exposed when old tweets from her old account, under the handle @ODamnYourUgly, were found online. She admitted she used the account in a separate online conversation stating she misses her old alias.
Being of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent, Sabrina Claudio’s comments included heavy use of the “n-word” and other comments such as,” It must suck to be a black girl with no booty” and “F**** it, I’ll be a black girl for Halloween.” The tweets have since been deleted but we all know that what you put on the internet is forever. Screenshots from Twitter can confirm that tweets were created in 2011 and a recent comment on her Instagram calling someone a “sweaty chonga” (in response to someone calling her a pasty white girl) within the last year.
As every celebrity that has been called out has done, an apology written in the notes app was posted for her “insensitive words”. The predictable five sentence apology, doesn’t express the same energy Claudio once felt in cutting down women of color. Writing for Madame Noire,
This recent weekend she posted a second apology further explaining the situation, but the fans still weren’t too pleased.
“I’m sorry for not saying something sooner. I am sorry for the short, straight to the point apology I posted on Twitter,” she wrote. “I’ve made many mistakes in my life. Many that have happened when I was young, lost and did not know who I was as an individual. Ones that have no excuse. Time doesn’t matter, whether it was six years ago or two minutes ago. It was still wrong. The words used then are not who I was or who I am today.“Yes, I made ignorant comments that I regret. But to make this clear, I never had an account dedicated to taking down women. It breaks my heart knowing that this rumor has been created and is being spread out….Discrimination in any form no matter who it is directed to is not acceptable… My music is dedicated to empowering women… empowering all people for that matter; It’s what I represent. It’s what I’m proud of most. I’m so different than what I’m being painted out to be. But it’s my fault you all feel the way you do. I am willing to prove to you who I really am.”
Renese Ford notes that Claudio has had high-profile collaborations with Black male artists, like Khalid, Duckwrth and 6lack, but has “no history of working with Black female artists.”
With such a large African American women following, unfortunately, this is another case of someone profiting off of the culture, but not actually liking us.