In recent months, India.Arie has faced a hailstorm of criticism for lightening her skin on the cover of her latest single, “Cocoa Butter,” and has since publicly dispelled the rumors.
Similar to the 37-year-old, actress Zoe Saldana has also dealt with a fair share of controversy surrounding her casting in the forthcoming Nina Simone biopic. And although the “Brown Skin” singer feels confident in Saldana's ability to pull off the role “energetically,” she still has certain thoughts on the producer’s decision to cast the Afro-Latina actress.
During a recent appearance on HuffPost Live, the Grammy Award-winning songstress opened up on the colorism issue and clarified her previous statements on Saldana’s forthcoming role.
“I’m still trying to figure out what this ‘Coco Butter’ thing is about for me on an internal spiritual level, why it happened to me,” she said. “And the best I’ve come up with is that I needed to look at myself and how hard I judge people. Cause I do, I really do. Because there’s a difference in being opinionated and judgmental I’m still trying to figure out what that fine line is, I think we are all. That’s something that I’ve been praying to not be. And now I understand that you never know what people what people are going through or what their backstory is. You just never know.”
She continued, “I think a lot about Snoop Lion these days, because if you didn’t know anything about him you would think, ‘what’s this guy doing?’ But when think about what he came from to where he’s trying to be, you appreciate that journey. You don’t know anything about anyone, so how can you judge. It was not my intention to be hard on her. There are more people involved in her being the choice than that. But I also said I think, ‘perhaps, spiritually there’s a reason why she was chosen.’ And if that reason comes to light how can I say anything.”
Check out more of India.Arie’s HuffPost Live interview in the clip above.
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