Amber Rose Claims She 'Never Said I Wasn't Black,' Resurfaced Clip Shows Her Saying 'I Do Not Consider Myself a Black Woman'
Rose, who identifies as "biracial," told Hot 97's Ebro in the Morning in 2015 that she "absolutely" does not consider herself a Black woman.
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Amber Rose has been making headlines lately for her support of former President Donald Trump, but now she is being called out for her alleged flip-flopping about her race.
On Monday, the 40-year-old model and media personality took the stage at the Republican National Convention and credited her pro-Trump father for convincing her that Trump, 78, is not racist after all.
“Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, white, gay, or straight,” Rose said during her televised speech. “And that’s when it hit me: These are my people. This is where I belong.”
She continued, “I’m here tonight to tell you, no matter your political background, that the best chance we have to give our babies a better life is to elect Donald Trump president of the United States. I’m no politician and I don’t wanna be, but I do care about the truth, and the truth is that the media has lied to us about Donald Trump. I know this because for a long time, I believed those lies.”
Rose’s speech did not sit well with 55-year-old MSNBC correspondent Joy Reid, who slammed the former SlutWalk organizer for being tokenized into bringing young Black voters to support Trump’s re-election campaign.
“It's ironic that they were able to recruit this young woman who, you know, she's a racially ambiguous—I don't wanna say she's Black because she has said she's not,” said Reid following the RNC.
“So I don't wanna say this Black woman, this woman who is of whatever race that she has claimed. She said she's not Black, but they brought somebody whose whole career is based in Black culture. She used to be on a show on BET. That's the reason most people know who she is.”
Reid is likely referring to the BET reality series College Hill: Celebrity Edition, which aired last year. Coincidentally, Rose got into a heated argument with Joseline Hernandez, 37, about her racial identity. Their dispute, which saw Hernandez accusing Rose of wanting “to be a white girl,” eventually became violent, leading both women to be permanently removed from the show.
“She dated one of the most prominent African-American rappers in the business in the history of hip hop,” Joy Reid continued. “So her whole culture came from Black culture even though she says she's not a Black person herself. And the fact that she is now the person they're using to try to recruit young people of color.”
She added, “And to say that this is the person who is the endorser of Donald Trump, who you should trust when she won't even claim the culture that brought her to the table. I'm dubious that this will work. I don't know anyone who takes their political cues from Amber Rose. But just in case you do, you might want to duplicate doing your own research because she might not have done it thoroughly.”
Rose became aware of Reid’s comments and issued a response to her X account on Tuesday, writing, “Hi @JoyAnnReid I’ve never said I wasn’t black I said I identify as biracial. I’m not going to invalid [sic] my white father to make you feel more comfortable. Stop being a race baiter ur president does enough race baiting for all of us.”
The post was deleted later that evening.
However, Rose’s racial identity is being called into question in light of her response to Reid.
One X user pointed to a February 2015 interview with Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning. During their discussion about her race, which begins at the 21:34 mark in the video below, Rose clarified her personal racial identity.
“I do not consider myself a Black woman. Absolutely not,” said Rose.
“What do you consider yourself?” asked co-host Peter Rosenberg, now 44.
“Biracial,” Rose answered. “My dad is half Irish, half Italian. I do the Italian festivals. I grew up eating very Italian food. I celebrate St. Patty's Day…and then also my Cape Verdean side, which I don't know that much about. I try to get up on that culture also, but I embrace everything that I am. I don't feel like I'm more one thing than the other.”
“It's just personally how I feel, It's not for anybody else,” she added, before eventually admitting she checks “other” on racial identification forms.
“I feel like when I'm around white people, I don't feel as white,” Rose continued. “You know, I got a big ass, and lips, like my body is different…I was different than the white girls I hung out with.”
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