Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock praised for confronting fiancé over colourist tweets
Leigh-Anne Pinnock with her fiancé Andre Gray. (Jeff Spicer/Getty)
Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock has won praise after she confronted her fiancé over his colourist tweets.
The singer sat down with her footballer fiancé Andre Gray to discuss tweets he posted in 2012 on her new BBC documentary Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop and Power.
In the documentary, Leigh-Anne Pinnock confronted colourism, which sees darker-skinned people of colour face greater discrimination and prejudice than their lighter-skinned counterparts.
The Little Mix singer took Gray to task about resurfaced tweets he posted in 2012 in which he said Black women wearing red lipstick looked like “burnt toast with jam on it”.
Discussing the shocking tweets, Pinnock said she felt “sick” when she first saw them.
“I was really upset because I was just like, who is this person?” she said. “This is horrible. That wasn’t the person I knew.
“When they surfaced my heart sank, because I was like, that is not the person I met. It sounds like a child, like a silly child.”
Gray agreed that the tweets were offensive, telling Pinnock that he was “disappointed” and “ashamed” when the comments resurfaced. He said he had since “educated” himself about colourism in the Black community.
Pinnock asked him: “How would you feel if someone said that about your cousin, your auntie? We could have a child and it could come out darker than us, you just don’t know, do you?”
Fans praised Pinnock on social media for having an open and honest discussion with Gray about his past comments.
It makes me so happy that instead of ignoring Andre's past tweets. Leigh Anne called him out for his past colourism and they discussed together how wrong it was. It's so important to have these discussions with friends or family that have made racist comments!
#Racepopandpower
— ᴮᴱMarley⁷✜⁹▽?❄?❤ (@twxtbadabangtan) May 13, 2021
I’m so glad Leigh Anne pulled up Andre’s past tweets it’s so important to address all issues no matter how close people are to you— Jess (@tweedylove_) May 13, 2021
leigh anne calling out and educating andre.. that's so strong of her. to show it in the documentary.. no words. just so proud.— sam ❅ (@flowerperrie) May 13, 2021
It’s good that Leigh-Anne showed Andre’s past tweets. Funny thing is there’s loads of mixed race men/light skin black men who still think like he supposedly used to!— ? (@k_zarahfelicia) May 13, 2021
leigh anne’s documentary was so eye opening- i knew about the colurism and racism in the industry but to that extent is crazy- i love how she addressed as much as she could including andre’s past racist tweets too
— R (@sabotagerexha) May 13, 2021
Along with the release of the documentary, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Andre Gray launched The Black Fund, a charity which will give grants to other charities and community groups that support Black people or fight racism.
It comes just a week after the couple announced they are expecting their first child.
The singer shared a series of photos on social media showing her baby bump, writing: “We’ve dreamed about this moment for so long and we can’t believe the dream is finally coming true… we can’t wait to meet you.”
On Tuesday (May 11), Little Mix won the Best British Group award at the BRITs, making them the first girl group to bag the award.
Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirwall used their historic speech to address the misogyny and sexism they have faced in the music industry.
“It’s not easy being a female in the UK pop industry. We’ve seen the white male dominance, misogyny, sexism, and lack of diversity,” Pinnock said at the awards ceremony.
“We’re proud of how we’ve stuck together, stood our ground, surrounded ourselves with strong women and are now using our voices more than ever.”
