LHHMIA star Amara La Negra had to deal with having her colorism struggles questioned by Charlemagne tha God and DJ Envy on “The Breakfast Club” this morning.
During the interview, Amara La Negra brought up how she looked up towards Whitney Houston and Donna Summers. She says she looked up to them because there weren’t any darker Afro-Latina entertainers she could look up to at the time.
This is where the conversation turned to how she dealt with colorism in the Latin-American entertainment industry and in the US.
Unfortunately, as much as we think we’ve advanced, we still have a long way to go.
Charlamagne looked puzzled and immediately expressed that he never heard of Colorism occurring today. He then asked her,” Specifically, what is the struggle that you’re facing?”
Amara explained, “…They’ll always pick the lighter [skinned person]. They’ll pick the ones that look like J-Lo’s and Shakira’s before they look at us… They’ll always look at us as the last option.”
DJ Envy jumped into the conversation that he “doesn’t see colorism” in New York City. Charlamagne then jumped in and said he “doesn’t see it in Hollywood anymore.”
He then added, “I feel like times have changed a lot.”
Amara explained further that her colorism struggles were things that she first saw in the Latin-American market going into the US-market.
At this point, Charlamagne asked Amara point-blank, “Are you sure it’s not in your mind?”
Cardi B was brought up, in which Charlamagne added:
“How do you explain Cardi B? Cardi’s teeth were messed up. She came from the strip clubs… called ratchet and ghetto as h***. And now she’s America’s sweetheart.”
After the interview, Charlamagne and DJ Envy proceeded to be criticized by their listeners on social media. Many of them feel that the two of them expressed ignorant views on colorism, and emphasized that it still exists in the entertainment industry.
They also got criticized for discounting Amara’s struggle coming up in the industry, and dismissing Young Hollywood’s criticisms of Amara.
Check out the tweets below.
Check out the full interview. The conversation starts at the 20:00 minute mark.
UPDATE: Amara had the following to say about the interview on Twitter:
Some people will never understand!
— A M A R A (@AmaraLaNegraALN) January 22, 2018
P.s I Love @iamcardib I have always said i admire her story her grind her hustle! As a fellow Dominicana Im so proud of her and Id be so honored to Work with her on a song one day omg! ? #ALNnation #ALNsoldier #TeamAmara
— A M A R A (@AmaraLaNegraALN) January 22, 2018
“Colorism doesn’t exist” says the dude that lightened his skin a few years ago! Why bring up Cardi B…she is light skinned and doesn’t face the same issues! This same negro gave Tomi Lahren a platform but proceeded to speak out against the woman on the Colin Cowerd show who made some fake allegations of being threatened by Lonzo Ball. I guess only issues that affect Black males are genuine because Black males dismiss our struggles ALL THE TIME! Nothing new here…mind as well listen to the Rush Limbaugh morning show for all of this.
Ignorance. But I don’t expect much from these people. They just like to be controversial so their show can trend on Twitter.
Exactly. They are professional trolls.
I’m starting to realize this now.
Cardi B is America’s sweetheart???
Sigh…and it’s only Monday.
It’s like they don’t even realize they just proved all of her points.
These fools cannot possibly be serious.
Cardi is light skinned. I’ve even seen people describe her as racially ambiguous. Not to mention she blew up really fast. So yeah, Charla only confirmed that what Amara is saying is completely true.
As ridiculous as this, there are a lot of black people who like to pretend colorism does not exist. And you cannot try to talk to them because they will just say dark skinned women are just jealous and bitter. It’s sad and infuriating.
He was so damn dismissive and condescending to her. How do you pretend to not know what she’s referring to when colorism continues to he such a pervasive issue in oir black communities. Charlemagne deserves Donkey Of The Day for that sh-t.
Charlamagne continues to be a f-ck boy in every way possible.
This whole interview was a fail.
I’m disgusted. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Donkeys of the day.
Charlamagne is trash. I’m over him.
How do you have the number one radio show for the urban market and not understand basic issues in the black community? How do you not know what Afro Latinos are? I can’t.