Camila Cabello: Racist Posts a Result of Ignorance, Not Hate

Singer apologizes for recently unearthed Tumblr account
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 19, 2019 1:34 PM CST
Camila Cabello Sorry About Old Racist Posts
Singer Camila Cabello performs at Z100's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2019 at Madison Square Garden on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, in New York.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Today, Camila Cabello is a popular 22-year-old Cuban-American singer, perhaps currently best known for her award-winning duet with Shawn Mendes, "Señorita." A few years ago, however, she was allegedly a teenager who made racist jokes on a Tumblr account unearthed this week in this Twitter thread. The thread points to this Tumblr account—the posts on which have since been deleted, but the Twitter user shared many of them via screenshot before that happened. They include, among other things, racist remarks, jokes, and memes directed at blacks and Asians; multiple uses of the n-word; and jokes about Rihanna's assault at the hands of Chris Brown. The Daily Dot, which notes Cabello has previously denied calling her former Fifth Harmony bandmate Normani the n-word, rounds up some of the most problematic posts here.

Cabello, who is currently in the running for a Grammy Award, responded on Twitter Wednesday with a statement reading in part, "When I was younger, I used language that I'm deeply ashamed of and will regret forever. I was uneducated and ignorant and once I became aware of the history and the weight and the true meaning behind this horrible and hurtful language, I was deeply embarrassed I ever used it. I apologized then and I apologize again now." She continued, "I'm 22 now, I'm an adult and I've grown and learned and am conscious and aware of the history and the pain it carries in a way I wasn't before." Newsweek notes the posts were made in 2012 when Cabello was 14 or 15 years old; Fifth Harmony formed on the X Factor reality show that year. Cabello left the group to go solo in 2016. (More Tumblr stories.)

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