Raven-Symoné Doubles Down on 'I'm Not African-American' Comment
Raven-Symoné isn't backing down from her controversial comments that she doesn't consider herself to be African-American — in fact, she's doubling down on them.
In the latest issue of People, The View co-host reiterates the statement she made to Oprah Winfrey last year, and that cause Twitter to explode. “I don’t like labels, but everyone needs them to understand what is going on. So, okay, I get it. Give me ‘American.’ There is nothing wrong with being an American, purely,” she says.
“I think that there are a lot of different races that fall under ‘American,’ so past that you really just are sub-categorizing me over and over again,” says the That’s So Raven veteran. “I’m not disowning my history in any way. My family has been here for almost 400 years. We’re American. This is me and what I feel about myself. But if you identify as African-American, then you’re African-American,” she continued. “What right do I have to tell you what you are and what you’re not?”
Symoné also broke her silence — sort of — on the Bill Cosby controversy. "Everybody has their opinion on [the scandal]," she says. "As a co-worker and someone who admires people's work ... I choose my words [carefully]," she says. "[But] I'm sure it hasn't even scratched the surface. So, we will see what happens."
On Saturday, the New York Times released a new deposition in the 2005 lawsuit brought against Cosby by Andrea Constand, in which Cosby seemed to confirm even more of the sordid allegations made against him — from paying women off after sexually abusing them, to his loose interpretation of consent. We'll see if this new information will convince Raven to speak out on her TV grandfather.
(Photo: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic)
