Camila Cabello took to social media after fans questioned whether her backup dancer was in blackface during a performance of her new single.
The singer, 24, debuted “Don’t Go Yet” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday, June 23, with an ’80s inspired look. Cabello and the dancers all appeared in colorful and unique looks.
“On my team we try to create a culture of kindness, joy, & love & you could feel that this week. none of this could be possible without the dream team that makes it happen & the fans that continue to support,” Cabello captioned a clip of the performance on Twitter the following day.
@Camila_Cabello pic.twitter.com/qARokq0qj7
— camila (@Camila_Cabello) July 24, 2021
Fans responded to the post questioning why dancer Dylan Pearce looked darker on stage compared to photos of him on his social media. After the comments went viral, the former Fifth Harmony member tried to explain the concept they had in mind.
“Hey! so this dude was just supposed to be a white man with a terrible spray tan,” Cabello tweeted on Saturday, July 24. “We purposefully tried to pull together a multicultural group of performers, the expectation was not that everyone in the performance needed to be Latin.”
The Cuba native explained that Pearce’s appearance was always meant to have a humorous take to it.
“There are white people, African American people, latin people, etc. The point was to try to make each person look like an over the top 80’s character just like in the video, including a white dude with a terrible orange spray tan,” she added at the time.
The actress also included a screenshot of a since-deleted post from the dancer’s social media of him backstage in his costume.
“In case you missed my spray tan last night on @jimmyfallon with @camila_cabello,” Pearce wrote via his Instagram Stories.
Some fans weren’t thrilled with the response, with one fan writing back, “This is not an apology, it wasn’t okay and offended a lot of people! there was no need for it. I’m really disappointed and you should’ve known better.”
Another social media user shared that she understood what Cabello had in mind, saying, “I mean that’s how I interpreted when I saw it last night but people are dragging you saying it’s something else. It’s not your fault but now you gotta apologize even if you had nothing to do with it.”
Cabello, for her part, has stayed focused on sharing more clips of her performing and enjoying the release of her new song.
“Baby don’t go yet cuz I wore this dress for a lil drama,” she wrote alongside a photo of her rocking a yellow outfit via Twitter on Sunday, July 25.
