Source: Prince Williams / Getty
Queen Naija is speaking out once again regarding backlash that she’s received over past comments.
On Sunday (Apr 4), the “Medicine” singer took to Twitter to address the backlash over her decision to collaborate with Ari Lennox for their latest single, “Set Him Up,” with many critics pointing out the perceived “hypocrisy” for speaking negatively about dark-skinned women, only to collaborate with one–Naija called it the naysayers stating that their hate “isn’t stopping the blessings.”
“lol the fact that people think they can get ‘rid’ of me or take me off my own song is ridiculous,” Naija wrote on Twitter. “I don’t want nor need y’all’s validation to continue to win! whatever y’all say about or to me cannot stop my blessings. The ratio of people who love me outweighs the hate!”
lol the fact that people think they can get “rid” of me or take me off my own song is ridiculous 😂 I don’t want nor need y’all’s validation to continue to win! whatever y’all say about or to me cannot stop my blessings. The ratio of people who love me outweighs the hate! 💜
— Queen Naija (@queennaija) April 4, 2021
Set him up 4/7/21 😈 pic.twitter.com/l4dh3Sxs44
— Queen Naija (@queennaija) April 2, 2021
Although the backlash re-emerged with the single’s announcement, the controversy stems from comments that Queen Naija made during her early days as a YouTube star, regarding bullies. During the 45 second clip, Naija is heard talking about her experience with bullies before the conversation takes a suspect turn resulting in the singer referring to dark-skinned women as “ugly nappy-headed Black girls” resulting in the internet star being labeled a colorist.
So I found the video @QueenNaijaaa thinks that black girls with “terrible” “nappy” hair bullied her because she had “pretty” hair. Those are descriptors of how she felt about their hair in comparison to her own. I see the real problem a superiority complex & colorism. pic.twitter.com/r3Qbvr2I3e
— Water Princess 👸🏾 (@WaterPrincessK) April 28, 2018
Last year after the clip was unearthed, Naija took to social in an attempt to shed light on the comments along with the full context in hopes that fans understand her position when the comment was made, before ultimately apologizing for her choice of words describing her childhood bullies.
“I have never been a colorist. I have never felt that I was better because I was light-skinned,” Queen Naija said during the Instagram Live. “I feel like melanin’s beautiful… The words I have used in the past, they were probably ignorant. Not probably. They were ignorant. Back then, I didn’t know they were ignorant because that’s what I was just used to. I wasn’t that educated on my culture and wasn’t deeply rooted into it.”
Revisit the apology video below.
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