When the 45-year-old radio host questioned Tyla about her previous comments on identifying as 'colored,' the 'Water' hitmaker chose not to delve into the topic.
- June 24, 2024
AceShowbiz - Charlamagne Tha God has addressed his viral interview with Tyla that was published earlier this month. When setting the record straight, the radio personality admitted that he ignored requests from the singer's team.
The 45-year-old touched on the matter on his "Brilliant Idiots" podcast. "All I was doing was trying to give her an opportunity to clear it up because they said that's been a thing for her," he said of his question about whether the South African artist identifying hersef as a "colored" woman.
"Now here's the thing about the label.. Labels always will come and say, 'Hey can you not ask this, can you not ask that,' " he claimed. "Sometimes depending what it is like if it's something like really personal, I'll be like, 'Sure I oblige.' For this one, I said, 'No.' The reason I said no, they had six things they didn't want us to ask."
When Charlamagne questioned Tyla about her previous comments on identifying as "colored," the "Water" hitmaker chose not to delve into the topic. It prompted her representative to intervene and request the conversation to move forward.
Of the "don't ask" list, Charlamagne claimed it included Tyla's interaction with streamer Kai Cenat, her withdrawal from Chris Brown's tour, dating speculations, as well as her recent injury. "Now, when I say, 'No, I'm not going to oblige any of this,' it is your job then, label, management, whoever, to either prepare the artist for the question or pull the interview," he stated.
"I'm fine with either. I already told you I'm not going to follow any of this," the comedian, born Lenard Larry McKelvey, added. "I'm not a d**k sucker for record labels. I have a job to do, and my job is for the people."
Tyla, for her part, has clarified her stance. She wrote, "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 in other places, I would be classified as a black woman. Race is classified differently in different parts of the world," she explained.
Further elaborating, Tyla acknowledged the weight of the term "coloured" outside South Africa. She emphasized, "I don't expect to be identified as Coloured outside of Southa by anyone not comfortable doing so... I'm both Coloured in South Africa and a black woman. As a woman for the culture. It's and not or... with that being said ASAMBEEE."
