Normani has commented on her former Fifth Harmony bandmate Camila Cabello’s history of racist behavior on social media.
Last year, Cabello came under fire when years-old posts featuring racist slurs and derogatory memes from the singer’s personal Tumblr resurfaced online.
In a new Rolling Stone cover story, Normani first expressed trepidation toward addressing the issue for fear of not being “concise” in her response. She later followed up with the writer via email.
“I want to be very clear about what I’m going to say on this uncomfortable subject and figured it would be best to write out my thoughts to avoid being misconstrued, as I have been in the past. I struggled with talking about this because I didn’t want it to be a part of my narrative, but I am a black woman, who is a part of an entire generation that has a similar story,” Normani’s email began.
Normani went on to voice disappointment over Cabello’s belated response to the racist attacks levied against herself online.
“It was devastating that this came from a place that was supposed to be a safe haven and a sisterhood, because I knew that if the tables were turned I would defend each of them in a single heartbeat. It took days for her to acknowledge what I was dealing with online and then years for her to take responsibility for the offensive tweets that recently resurfaced. Whether or not it was her intention, this made me feel like I was second to the relationship that she had with her fans.”
“I really hope that an important lesson was learned in this,” Normani concluded. “I hope there is genuine understanding about why this was absolutely unacceptable. I have spoken what is in my heart and pray this is transparent enough that I never have to speak on it again. To my brown men and women, we are like no other. Our power lies within our culture.
Cabello has since apologized for the posts. In a statement on Twitter, she said, in part, “I can’t go back in time and change things I said in the past. But once you know better, you do better and that’s all I can do.”
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