Despite her active participation in the Black Lives Matter movement that has grown across the country, the 'Without Me' singer finds herself being subjected to criticism over her word choice.
- Jun 3, 2020
AceShowbiz - Halsey makes it clear why she did not use the word "we" when supporting the Black Lives Matter protests prompted by the tragic death of George Floyd. Shortly after finding herself being accused of never claiming her black side, the "Without Me" hitmaker took to her social media page to address the issue at hand.
On Tuesday, June 2, the 25-year-old biracial singer tweeted, "im white passing. it's not my place to say 'we'. it's my place to help." She went on to note, "i am in pain for my family, but nobody is gonna kill me based on my skin color. I've always been proud of who I am but it'd be an absolute disservice to say 'we' when I'm not susceptible to the same violence."
Halsey's post came after fellow Twitter user wrote in a since-deleted tweet, "Notice how @Halsey never claims her black side, but she 'supports.' Stop being ignorant. She's never claimed her Black side." The critic added, "This is why I will NEVER support her. On her post she says 'let black ppl speak,' not 'let our ppl speak.' Nah, f**k her."
Back in 2017, the ex-girlfriend of Yungblud talked about her struggle growing up biracial in an interview for Playboy magazine. "I'm half black," she dished at the time. "I'm white-passing. I've accepted that about myself and have never tried to control anything about black culture that's not mine. I'm proud to be in a biracial family, I'm proud of who I am, and I'm proud of my hair."
"One of my big jokes a long time ago was 'I look white, but I still have white boys in my life asking me why my nipples are brown.' Every now and then I experience these racial blips," she continued sharing. "I look like a white girl, but I don't feel like one. I'm a black woman. So it's been weird navigating that. When I was growing up I didn't know if I was supposed to love TLC or Britney [Spears]."
Most recently, Halsey joined protesters in Los Angeles to demand an end to police brutality and racial prejudice. On Tuesday, she made use of Instagram to share videos and photos capturing the horror she witnessed first hand. "It's become very clear to me that some of you need to see what I've seen," she introduced her post.
"These pictures and videos don't even scratch the surface. It's easy from the comfort of your home to watch looting and rioting on television and condone the violent measures being taken by forces," she added. "But what you don't see is innocent peaceful protestors being shot at and tear gassed and physically assaulted relentlessly."
The "Bad at Love" singer ended her post with a call for others to care. "With [Donald] Trump's decision today to enforce the mobilization of armed forces on our own citizens, this has escalated beyond your privilege and comfort to not care," she wrote. "Please care. We are begging you to care. This is war on Americans. This is everyone's problem. Everyone's."
