Normani Addresses Camila Cabello's Past Racist Comments: 'It Was Devastating'

Last December, Camila Cabello issued a public apology for past "uneducated" and "ignorant" racist comments that had resurfaced online. Yet her former Fifth Harmony bandmate Normani is still attempting to understand the slurs and memes that Cabello shared to her personalized Tumblr account at roughly 14 years old.


Normani is one of three cover stars in the latest allocate problem of Rolling Stone, alongside SZA and Megan Thee Stallion. In the accompanying piece, which dives deep into her childhood, 5H years, and forging a bold path ahead as a solo performer, she directly addresses the experience in a statement.


"I aspire to be very clear about what I'm going to mention on this uncomfortable subject and figured it could be best to write out my thoughts to avoid being misconstrued, as I've Been in the past," she mentioned immediately after opting to discuss Cabello's past posts by way of the email, several weeks immediately following the interview, rather than off the cuff in person. "I struggled with talking about this because I didn't want it to be a piece of my narrative, although I am a black woman, who is a piece of an entire generation that has a similar story."


The "Motivation" singer continued by explaining that discrimination is something she's dealt with her whole life. "I face senseless attacks day-to-day, as does the rest of my community," she mentioned. "This symbolizes a day in the life for us. I've Been tolerating discrimination far before I might even comprehend what exactly was happening. Direct and subliminal hatred has been geared towards me for several years solely due to the color of my skin."


In 2016, Normani took a social-media hiatus soon after her feed was inundated with racially charged abuse from fans who misinterpreted a comment lose made about Cabello. And though Cabello publicly asked her fans to "be kind" days later, Normani wishes she would've spoken out sooner. She feels the same way about Cabello's apology for those offensive social media posts, which went unaddressed for several years.


"It could be dishonest if I mentioned that this particular scenario didn't hurt me," Normani continued. "It was devastating that this came from a place that was supposed to be safe haven as well as a sisterhood, because I knew that if the tables were turned I would defend each of these in an individual 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."


Despite everything that went down, Normani sees it as a possibility for personalized growth" for Cabello. "I really hope that a critical lesson was learned in this," she mentioned. "I hope there really is proper 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 close out her statement, Normani directly addressed people of color who experience the same discrimination: "To my brown males and females, we are like no other. Our power lies within our culture.  We are descendants of an endless line of strong and resilient kings and queens. We have been and will continue to win in all that we do simply because of who we are. We deserve to be celebrated, I deserve to be celebrated and I'm just getting started."