Tyla Says She’s ‘Never Denied’ Her Blackness
“Race is classified differently in different parts of the world,” the South African singer wrote.
Tyla is done answering questions about her ethnic and racial identity. Appearing on The Breakfast Club on Thursday, the singer refused to respond to Charlamagne Tha God’s prodding about her Blackness.
“School me on these debates that they be having about your identity as a South African coloured person. What does that even mean?” Charlamagne asked. Instead of answering the question, Tyla looked behind her and an off-screen voice chimed in, saying, “Can we not, por favor?” Charlamagne kept things moving, but said the interaction wouldn’t be edited out of the published video.
@breakfastclubam asked #tyla about the “coloured” vs. black woman debate she remained silent and her team quickly hopped in. #browngirlgrinding #bgg pic.twitter.com/FAUqSRHNSj
— BROWN GIRL GRINDING⭐️ (@LorenLorosa) June 13, 2024
The “debates” Charlamagne was referencing are part of the ongoing conversation about Tyla, who is multiethnic and multiracial, describing herself as “Coloured.” In a 2021 video that has resurfaced in recent months, she said she was proud to be a “Coloured South African woman.” When asked that same year about artists who inspired her, she said, “If you grew up in a Coloured home, you would know that I grew up listening to a lot of old-school R&B.” While in the United States, “colored” is considered a degrading term that’s no longer used, in South Africa — where Tyla is from — “Coloured” is a more neutral term used to describe mixed-race and multiethnic people.
The Breakfast Club clip made rounds on social media, with some Americans taking offense to Tyla’s use of the word. Meanwhile, many Africans supported her decision to no longer engage with questions like Charlamagne’s, especially since she has done so repeatedly in the past year. In April, she told Cosmopolitan, “When people are like, ‘You’re denying your Blackness,’ it’s not that at all. I never said I am not Black. It’s just that I grew up as a South African knowing myself as Coloured.”
— Tyla (@Tyllaaaaaaa) June 13, 2024
In response to this week’s chatter, Tyla reiterated this point on X, writing, “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 other places I would be classified as a Black woman. Race is classified differently in different parts of the world.” She continued, “I don’t expect to be identified as Coloured outside of Southa by anyone not comfortable doing so because I understand the weight of that word outside of SA, but to close this conversation, I’m both Coloured in South Africa and a Black woman.”
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