Raven-Symoné has addressed her controversial comments about race that had her facing “so much backlash.”
The actress is claiming that her previous statement about not being African American was taken out of context.
The 38-year-old actress spoke out about the issue on a new episode of the “Tea Time With Raven and Miranda” podcast with her wife, Miranda Maday, on Tuesday, April 2.
In the episode titled “We Need to Talk … ,” the Cosby Show star brought up a 2014 interview where she “felt like the entire internet exploded and threw my name in the garbage.”
She rehashed the topic because the clip went viral after a new Real Time With Bill Maher segment mentioned Idris Elba previously saying that people “are obsessed with race.” Maher used her quote from the interview on a talk show. The Disney Channel star said the comment “has haunted me since 2014.”
Raven explained that Maher was commenting on something she said “back in 2014” before a clip of the infamous interview was played on Tuesday’s episode of her podcast.
“So you don’t want to be labeled gay?” she was asked. Shaking her head, Raven replied, “I don’t want to be labeled gay. 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.”
“Oh girl, don’t set off Twitter,” the interviewer told her at the time, seemingly stunned by the response.
After the clip ended, it switched back to the “Tea Time” podcast.
“Now, when that aired, I felt like the entire internet exploded and threw my name in the garbage,” Raven admitted. “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.’ A lot of people thought I said that I wasn’t Black. And I never said that.”
“When I say that African American does not align with me, that label, it doesn’t mean that I’m negating my Blackness or I’m not Black,” she continued. “It means I am from this country. I was born here. My mom, my dad, my great-great-great-great-great — that’s what I’m saying. The pure logistics of it.”
She added that she does respect her history and how her ancestors struggled.
“I also understand how much blood, sweat and tears they soaked into this earth in order to create the America that I live in today — free, happy, tax-paying American citizen,” she said.
Last December, Raven celebrated her 38th birthday without her younger brother, Blaize Pearman, by her side.
“I want to thank everybody for the amazing birthday wishes yesterday. Truly, I love you guys,” Raven began in a video shared via Instagram at the time. “It was a little bittersweet for me, to be honest, because last month, I lost my brother, Blaize. He was battling colon cancer for about two years, and he is in a better place now.”
Raven’s parents, Lydia Gaulden and Christopher Pearman, welcomed Blaize in 1991, six years after the Disney star was born. He was 31 years old when he lost his battle with cancer.
