By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
The Sheryl Underwood controversy continues. Sheryl Underwood has been one of the most prominent faces of black female comedians, but the comedian found herself in a whole heap of trouble with the recent comments she made on her daytime talk show “The Talk.” In the controversial conversation, Sheryl and the rest of her co-hosts discussed how odd they found it that supermodel Heidi Klum likes to save her sons’ afro hair after they get hair cuts, and Sheryl took that time to talk about how “nasty” and inferior she thought afro hair was. She said:
“Why would you save afro hair? I mean you can’t weave in afro hair. You don’t never see us at the hair salon saying, ‘Look here, what I need is some curly, nappy beads.’ That just seems nasty.”
Things only got worse when the comedian then told her white co-host who revealed she’s done the same thing that the difference was her hair was “beautiful,” and afro hair is not:
“Which is probably some beautiful, long, silky stuff. That’s not what an afro is.”
Sheryl called in to the Steve Harvey Morning Show today to apologize to all those who are offended by her comments. She says:
“I want to apologize for my recent attempt at humor that missed the target and hit my people squarely in the heart. To all of you, I say I’m very sorry from my failed attempt at humor surrounding something that’s very sensitive to us, our hair.
“I could use this time to try to explain the intent on what I said. But misunderstanding aside, the way the joke came out offended my people and my community, which was not my intent. I’m grateful for the love that you all have showed me, that love enough to pull my coattails and to correct me when I’m wrong. My choice of words were wrong and inappropriate and I hope in time you can forgive me.
“You’ve reminded me of the numerous platform that I’m blessed to have and that my words have power.”
Sheryl also made it clear that she understands her joke was completely wrong:
“And all jokes aside, I was wrong. I made a mistake.”
Interestingly enough, the day before Sheryl told blogger Curly Nikki that people misunderstood her joke and she wasn’t calling natural hair nasty but actually the process of “saving hair”:
“Everyday after the show, I look at the footage as a way to continue to strive to be better… to express myself better. I play everything back so I can watch, learn and improve. When that segment played back, I knew that it would be misunderstood.
“The discussion was about cutting and saving hair. I didn’t speak about Heidi Klum or her children’s hair. I stated that the act of saving hair was ‘nasty’. Cutting and saving what I consider as dead… it’s like saving fingernails. People are accusing me of calling natural hair ‘nasty’. I did not say that.”
I think this apology won’t change how people now perceive her.
LOL now she see what’s wrong with her views on natural hair. How typical.
Bless her ignorant heart. I hope she actually learned a lesson. But it really is sad that a white woman like Heidi Klum can see the beauty in black hair before some black people do. Sad.
This just sounded like a bunch of excuses and she is doing damage control. She also contradicted herself numerous times but whatever because I never liked her and I never watch the talk.
Cosign. She tried to spin it but thank God most of us saw right through the BS. She’s only apologizing because people got her together real good on Twitter.
Another bullsh-t apology from a celebrity after they get dragged for exposing their own ignorance willingly. What’s new?
THIS!
Girl…when will they learn?
To be honest…to me it did come across that she was talking about saving the shavings of the cut hair…not putting the Afro hair down but O well >>>>>>>Moving on!!
Then explain the other comments: “Which is probably some beautiful, long, silky stuff. That’s not what an afro is.”
“You don’t never see us at the hair salon saying, ‘Look here, what I need is some curly, nappy beads.’ That’s just seems nasty.”
SMH.
Nah. That cannot be when she told the white woman her hair was silky and beautiful, something afro hair is not. Reading is fundamental, but comprehension is key.
Thank you. I’m not saying she shouldn’t be forgiven, but she needs to be held responsible. Damage control is not what we need, we need honesty here.
Womp, womp. The truth is out now.
Too late. People will always remember this. I wasn’t a fan anyway so it doesn’t change anything for me. I always thought she wasn’t very funny.
LOL at her trying to spin it but she told that white woman her hair was beautiful and afro was not. Damage control fail!
SMH. I don’t even know if she really understands what she said was wrong or she just wants to quiet the backlash. Probably the latter.
Sigh…I knew she would be issuing a fake apology out soon. And Aisha Tyler is just as much of a problem too.
Well all make mistakes. I don’t think what she said was right, but if she apologized people need to move on.
She made these remarks weeks ago . CBS repeated the show Friday so noone at CBS or Sheryl thought they were offensive until now.Very telling.If she said something offensive about Sara Gilbert engagement to a woman or Julie Chen’s asian ancestry .I wonder how long it would take to apologize weeks, days or hours?