Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock opens up about her experience of racism in powerful video
5 June 2020, 17:49
Little Mix vs 'The Most Impossible Little Mix Quiz' | PopBuzz Meets
"My reality is feeling lonely when performing to predominantly white countries. I sing to fans who don’t see me or hear me or cheer me on."
Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock has spoken frankly about her experience of racism in the band and the music industry at large.
Today (Jun 5), Leigh-Anne Pinnock took to Instagram to write: "Like many of you, I have been feeling really heavy with everything that we are seeing online and hearing on the news. In the past I have mentioned some personal experiences that were triggered due to my race. More than ever I felt like it was time that I was completely open and honest with you all because finally, the world is awake and people want to listen, help and understand."
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She continued: "I'm not doing this video for sympathy or for you to watch and then go about normal life. I'm doing it because enough is enough and hopefully from sharing this we can all do more to understand the racism that takes place. In doing this we are able to approach the bigger issue and break down systemic racism. All we want is equality and justice for our black community."
Leigh-Anne posted the caption alongside a video in which she talks in-depth about how racism has affected her specifically.
In the video, Leigh-Anne says: "Nine years ago, after joining Little Mix, I had the biggest awakening of my life. When we were filming 'Wings', we worked with Frank Gatson, he said to me, 'You’re the black girl, you have to work 10 times harder.' Later on, what Frank Gatson said, I learned that being in the biggest girl band in the world came with its flaws."
She continued: "You learn to see that you can’t be seen as too loud or too opinionated otherwise you’re deemed as a diva or aggressive. You learn that walking into a room you are deemed as unapproachable or offish before anyone has approached you. You learn that by voicing your opinion about the lack of diversity in the industry is like slapping your heard against a brick wall."
Leigh-Anne then added: "My reality is feeling lonely when performing to predominantly white countries. I sing to fans who don’t see me or hear me or cheer me on. My reality is feeling anxious before fan events or signings because I always feel like the least favoured. My reality is constantly feeling like I have to work 10 times harder and longer to mark my place in the group because my talent alone isn’t enough.
My reality is wanting to see other artists who I know are so talented but will never get the opportunities I have had because to the industry they are not marketable. But they will get behind someone else with aspects of black culture they feel the world wants to see but leave behind the aspects they feel make me unmarketable. My reality is all the times that I have felt invisible in my group but part of me is fully aware that my experience would be harder to cope with had I been dark-skinned.
Our reality is that no matter how far you think you've come, racism exists. It exists in sports, in the creative industries, in politics and policies, in the streets and in the hearts of racist individuals. We are no longer in a position where we need to be quiet on this matter so let's all continue to speak on racism and keep this movement going."
Leigh-Anne's comments come just moments after Jade Thirlwall called out the media for continually mixing up her and Leigh-Anne.
Today (Jun 5), Jade shared a screenshot on Instagram of a piece from a media outlet which used a photo of Leigh-Anne and her fiancé Andre Grey to sell a story about Jade. She wrote: "If you’re going to copy and paste articles from other accurate media outlets, you might want to make sure you’re using an image of the correct mixed race member of the group."
.@LittleMix’s Jade Thirlwall calls out journalist for using an image of band mate Leigh-Anne Pinnock when discussing racism she experienced in school:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 5, 2020
“make sure you’re using an image of the correct mixed-race member of the group...It’s lazy journalism. It’s ignorant. It’s rude” pic.twitter.com/0MpfHeVc1r
Jade then opened up more about how often the media mixes her and Leigh-Anne up. In another story, she wrote: "This shit happens to @leighannepinnock and I ALL THE TIME that it’s become a running joke.
The amount of interviews where we get mixed up, I couldn’t count how many photographers or journalists over the years that have shouted for one of us on set and when we’ve walked over they’ve said ‘oh, you’re Jade?’ And awkwardly brushed it off as it’s a simple mistake when we both really know why.“I’ve even had ‘Oh sorry, you look similar’. Really?! I’m done with us just having to laugh it off now…
It’s lazy journalism. It’s ignorant. It’s rude. It offends me that you couldn’t differentiate the two women of colour out of four members of a group."
Leigh-Anne then reposted Jade's story and added: "DO BETTER. We've held this in way too long."
