Doja Cat calls out people questioning her “Blackness”
Doja Cat has criticised the people who question her “Blackness”.
The Los Angeles pop/rap star – who was born to a white Jewish mother and a Black South African father – addressed claims that she didn’t grow up with any Black influences in a new cover interview with Dazed.
“I read something the other day where someone said I was never surrounded by Black people, and I have no Black influence in my life, which is so unbelievably crazy to me,” Doja explained.
“Growing up on the land, it was all Black energy. My family was Black. My mum was the only real white influence in my life. It’s easy to make assumptions about people you don’t know.”
She continued: “I don’t think people are trying to destroy my light or make me unhappy; I think it’s just that they don’t know.”
Back in 2020, Doja was accused of saying anti-Black rhetoric in video chats in the past. A track the artist wrote in 2015 called ‘Dindu Nuffin’, named after a racist slur that mocks the victims of police brutality, also resurfaced.
Doja subsequently issued an apology for the song, but denied taking part in “any racist conversations” in online chat rooms. “I personally have never been involved in any racist conversations,” she said at the time. “I’m sorry to everyone that I offended.”
She added: “I’m a Black woman. Half of my family is black from South Africa, and I’m very proud of where I come from.”
Elsewhere in the new Dazed interview, Doja said she has “never felt more beautiful” since shaving her head.
She explained that her idea of beauty is “going against” what society wants. “I love when you take something that is maybe classically beautiful and twist it and make it your own,” Doja told the outlet.
Doja Cat released her third and latest studio album, ‘Planet Her’, in June 2021. This September, she dismissed her earlier claim that she was working on a “German rave culture”-inspired follow-up.
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Tom Skinner
NME
