Iggy Azalea is at present traveling superior with her new solitary, “I Am the Stripclub,” with its smooth new video surpassing 3 million YouTube views considering that its July 2 unveiling.
But the Australian rapper, 31, has also occur underneath fire from a quantity of detractors, who have accused her of Blackfishing in the movie.
In a person section of the clip, the usually blonde star is viewed in the back again of a truck donning a long, black wig as she’s flanked by a host of vogueing dancers.
As screenshots from the scene commenced circulating on Twitter in excess of the weekend, the star was accused of darkening her pores and skin for the movie, prompting prices of Blackfishing.
In accordance to NBC Information, Blackfishing is a expression that has been credited (at minimum in part) to hip-hop journalist Wanna Thompson, who in 2018 shared a Twitter thread of a string of non-Black public figures who had used make-up, Photoshop and cosmetic surgical treatment to seem Black or blended race.
Some have as opposed it to blackface, the racist centuries-aged practise of a non-Black individual making use of dark make-up, normally to mock the options of Black people today.
Nonetheless, Azalea—real title Amethyst Kelly—soon caught wind of the accusations, branding them “ridiculous and baseless,” even though insisting that she was no darker in the movie than she generally seems.
Responding to the criticism on Twitter, Azalea wrote: “I cannot care about anything that preposterous and baseless. I’m carrying a shade 6 in armarni basis, it truly is the similar shade I have worn for the last 3 decades.
“It truly is the identical shade in each and every songs movie given that sally Walker. Suddenly I put on a black wig in a club scene & its an difficulty.”
As the criticism continued to circulation in, the star defended herself when once again, as she shared an picture of the unique product or service she employs.
“This is the color I put on, it is really on the arm color of a tan white man or woman,” she wrote. “I am not wearing ridiculous dim make-up at ALL.
“Every person in the club scene seems to be darker, it really is a club scene! I am ill of ppl attempting to twist my words and phrases or make shit a issue when all I have finished is attempt a hair shade.”
In a even further tweet, the “Fancy” hitmaker went on to condition that the movie was shot “in a dimly lit room with purple lights. It can be the exact same makeup from each individual other component of the video just with a Smokey eye and diverse wig.”
I simply cannot treatment about a thing that ridiculous and baseless.
I’m carrying a shade 6 in armarni basis, it’s the very same shade I’ve worn for the last 3 decades.
It’s the same shade in each tunes movie due to the fact sally Walker.
Quickly I don a black wig in a club scene & its an problem.— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) July 3, 2021
This is the shade I dress in, it is on the arm color of a tan white person.
I’m not wearing ridiculous dim makeup at ALL.
Everyone in the club scene seems to be darker, it is a club scene!
I’m unwell of ppl striving to twist my terms or make shit a challenge when all I’ve performed is attempt a hair color. pic.twitter.com/CGQIOQiWGD— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) July 3, 2021
When an additional Twitter user proposed to Azalea that she could have proficiently defended herself by describing the picture experienced potentially been darkened, the musician shot back again: “Or probably the internet could view my music movie and see for them selves as a substitute of tryna puppy me simply because a random web site I have nothing to do with posted an edit?
“Depart me be, I never hassle everyone, ppl keep tryna generate s*** outta nothing on-line.
Just BORED.”
By Sunday, Azalea appeared keen to set the concern to mattress, as she toasted the music video’s achievement and thanked her supporters—as well as “every person exhibiting me loathe.”
She tweeted: “To everybody exhibiting me like: Thankyou for dedicating your day to me & supporting me market, I enjoy you! To every person showing me hate: Thankyou for dedicating your day to me & assisting me market, I enjoy you!”
In the earlier, Kim and Khloé Kardashian, as nicely as their young sister Kylie Jenner, have confronted accusations of Blackfishing.
Blackface creator Ayanna Thompson told Time of the sisters in a June job interview: “There’s a explanation why they have completed this and why they have built income on this. Which is the final ability of whiteness, correct? That I can like these things, which we may want to denigrate, but I never have to stay there. I get to appear back again to the safety of whiteness.”
Newsweek has contacted a representative for Iggy Azalea for comment.
Gary Gershoff/Getty Photographs/YouTube