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Raven-Symoné is reflecting on controversial comments she made almost a decade ago while appearing on the ‘Oprah: Where Are They Now?’ TV show.
On Tuesday, April 2, a video clip from a new episode of ‘Tea Time with Raven and Miranda’ was released via YouTube. To note, the podcast is hosted by Symoné and her wife, Miranda Maday.
In the video, Symoné explained that a clip from her 2014 appearance on ‘Where Are They Now’ has begun recirculating.
“I want to talk about something that has haunted me since 2014,” she explained.
Symoné shared that the viral comment she made while appearing on the show prompted her to receive “so much backlash.”
“When that aired, I felt like the entire internet exploded and threw my name in the garbage. There was so much backlash from my community and others that misunderstood, slash, didn’t hear the exact words that I said. And the exact words that I said is that ‘I’m an American, not an African American,'” she explained. “A lot of people on the internet thought I said that I wasn’t Black. And I never said that. There’s a difference between being Black and African American.”
The 38-year-old explained that she never intends to “negate” her Blackness and understands her history. However, she believes the world at large views her as an American rather than an African American.
Watch her explain her stance below.
Social media users entered The Shade Room’s comment section to share their mixed reactions to Symoné’s current stance.
While Instagram user @jay.nedaj added, “Girl you did not have to bring this back up..hush lmaooo”
Hot 97 radio hot Ebro Darden wrote, “What she doesn’t understand is American is a Nationality… Black is a race, culture and ethnicity. African-American is also an ethnicity which is interchangeable with Black for some.”
As The Shade Room previously reported, Symoné appeared as a guest on ‘Oprah: Where Are They Now?’ in October 2014. During her appearance, the actor reportedly opened up about her sexual orientation and revealed that she noticed she was attracted to both genders of people at the age of 12.
From there, Symoné explained that she doesn’t “want to be labeled gay.” However, the actor also took her stance one step further.
“I want to be labeled a ‘human who loves humans.’ I’m tired of being labeled — I’m an American. I’m not an African American. I’m an American,'” she explained.
