Last week, the perennially politically incorrect Raven-Symone made the famous, or rather, infamous comment that she would never hire anyone with a name that sounded too Black.
In fact, the high priestess of Black people bashing went even further by stating, “I’m not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea. It’s just not gonna happen.” It was like a “Whoa! OK, tell us what you really think” moment.
Likely, in an effort to diffuse the tension that had suddenly engulfed the room, The View co-host Joy Behar remarked (and correctly so) that “a lot of White people named their children after food ― Apple, Honey.” Behar further suggested that people should refrain from naming their children when they are “hungry,” prompting laughter form the audience. Raven-Symone has since backtracked from her earlier comments.
It did not take a rocket scientist to realize (in fact, Raven-Symone probably knew this after she had spoken) that her callous remarks would cause all hell to break loose in the bloggersphere. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook went into overdrive, taking Raven-Symone to task for her arrogant, disrespectful comments. Predictably, Black Twitter broke it down, kept it real, and schooled the former child star and View co-host about her arrogant, disrespectful and bigoted comments.
What was more ironic, notable, and indeed disturbing and troubling about this situation is that fact that we have a person (Raven-Symone) who is Black, openly gay and has a distinctive name making blatantly discriminatory comments and disparaging others who have names that she finds unacceptable. In fact, as far as Black celebrity names go, Raven-Symone is arguably the Blackest-identifying celebrity name out there. The hypocrisy is not lost on anyone here.
Perhaps Raven-Symone is unaware of the fact that there have been a number of studies conducted confirming that there are people who actually do in fact discriminate against people based on the fact that they harbor names that are “Black or ethnic sounding.” These people are bigots. She, whether wittingly or unwillingly, has bought into this retrograde mindset. This fact in and of itself is a sad and troubling commentary.
To be sure, Raven-Symone has had a history of making controversial comments, from declaring that she does not consider herself African-American, to defending Whites who have criticized the physical features of certain Black celebrities, to this latest misstep. Things have gotten to the point that even father has chimed in on her latest comments. Christopher Pearman, Raven-Symone’s father, made it clear that, while he loved his daughter and would always support her, he was not amused by her latest remarks. The elder Pearman went on to further say that “she sometimes says some dumb [stuff].”
