Charlamagne tha God tried to revisit a past conversation about Tyla’s ethnicity in a recent interview on “The Breakfast Club,” but the artist’s handler quickly shut it down.
“School me on these debates that they be having about your identity as a South African coloured person. What does that even mean?” Charlamagne said.
Tyla looked over her shoulder to a woman who seemed to be her manager, and listeners could hear her in the background saying, “Can we not? Por favor,” and later on adding, “Next one, please.”
@breakfastclubam asked #tyla about the “coloured” vs. black woman debate she remained silent and her team quickly hopped in. #browngirlgrinding #bgg pic.twitter.com/FAUqSRHNSj
— BROWN GIRL GRINDING⭐️ (@LorenLorosa) June 13, 2024
Hours after the interview was posted, Tyla posted a statement on Instagram regarding rumors that she denied being Black.
“Never denied my blackness, idk where that came from…I’m mixed with Black/Zulu, Irish, Mauritian/Indian and Coloured,” Tyla said. “In [South Africa] I would be classified as a Coloured woman and other places I would be classified as a Black women. Race is classified differently in different parts of the world.
“I don’t expect to be identified as Coloured outside of [South Africa] by anyone not comfortable doing so because i understand the weight of that word outside of SA, But to close this conversation, I’m both Coloured in South Africa and a black women…”
Tyla sparked a heavy debate in 2023 when a TikTok surfaced of her referring to herself as a “coloured South African,” which she said means she comes from several different cultures. Some people questioned Tyla’s comments, saying she was trying to use the word “colored,” which is a dated term used for Black people in America. Others vouched for Tyla, saying “coloured” does not have the same definition in South Africa as it does in America.
Tyla race discourse needs to be wrapped up immediately but the very easy resolution is surely to just say “South African Coloured”
— Jason Okundaye (@jasebyjason) November 20, 2023
Tyla understand the history of indigenous, black South Africans, they do not take identifying as black as a joke – I respect it, they created the racial construct "Coloured" for that reason. We should respect their culture, and decentre our North American construct of race.
— Goddess of BLACK. (@xm_muva) November 19, 2023
Y’all can whine about Black Americans centering themselves in this “colored vs Black” discourse re: Tyla which is HILARIOUS because here? It’s just all semantics. But at the end of the day, she’s trying to cross over into AMERICAN territory. She has to pick her battles.
— Mel Smith (@iamMelsmith) November 19, 2023
