After finding herself in hot water over comments many found to be racially insensitive, former child star Raven-Symone took to Facebook to address the controversy surrounding her remarks.
“My comments about discrimination have spun out of control,” Raven wrote in a Facebook message on Sunday. “I’d like to begin by saying that I was not attacking a specific race, but repeating a name that was said in a viral video which has received over two million likes.”
The 29-year-old actress who is famous for her roles in The Cosby Show and That’s so Raven is referring to a segment on The View in which the panel discussed a study that said Americans discriminate against people based on their names.
The co-hosts watched and commented on a viral video of the most “ghetto”-sounding names, after which Raven said, “I am very discriminatory against words like the ones that they were saying in the video. I’m not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea. Its just not going to happen. I’m not going to hire you.”
Commenters on Twitter were quick to jump on Raven’s comments, which many called racist and ignorant.
Even Raven’s father, Christopher B. Pearman wrote an open letter on Facebook about his daughter’s propensity for making controversial quips. “Children grow up and become influenced by many things, situations and people,” he wrote. “I certainly don’t agree with what she said….but she is damn near 30 years old. She’s a grown a** woman making grown a** mistakes. We all have been guilty of this. Raven is a really Beautiful, Sweethearted, Human Being. I should know. Her Mother and I Love her Very much and will always support her and have her back,” Pearman continued. “Even if sometimes……….she says some dumb S#%T!”
In her own message defending herself and her comments, Raven stressed that she understands why people were upset at her remarks, but that some good can come from the discussion it initiated.
“I have been denied many jobs because of my skin colour, body size and age. Each time I was rejected, my self esteem was negatively effected, so I empathize with those who feel victimized by what I said,” Raven shared. “We would hope that when it comes to hiring, our names, physical appearance, sexual orientation and age would never outweigh our qualifications, but often times, they do. That’s the truth and it sucks. But I should not be part of the problem; I should be part of the solution.”
She apologized for the remarks, and also swore that the comments were made in jest and did not reflect her actual opinions on hiring practices.
“As an equal opportunity employer, I have never discriminated against a name….even though I said I would, it’s not true. My comment was in poor taste. My lack of empathy towards name discrimination was uncalled for.”