Despite facing accusations of cultural appropriation, Bhad Bhabie rejects claims that she’s attempting to copy Black people.
The Florida rapper sat down with Camilla Araujo in a video released on Friday (May 23) and tackled the rumors around the 45-minute mark. Just before Bhabie, whose real name is Danielle Bregoli, became an internet sensation, her initial rise to fame came from the notorious ‘Catch me outside’ moment on Dr. Phil in 2016.
But around the 47-minute mark of the podcast below, Bhabie stated that she’s “comfortable being an Italian, Jewish white girl” despite what her appearance and use of AAVE might suggest.
“I never purposely put makeup on to be darker, I never told a makeup artist to do it i never did anything to my body to look like a race. I just I grew up around Black people,” she went on.
Bhabie added that she simply has an “accent” and “gravitates towards certain things Black people do.” “Even from a young age, I never looked at a Black person and was like, I want to be you,” she said.
The “Ms. Whitman” artist then explained that she was raised in the same neighborhood as Haitian people, some who would braid her hair, and called herself “appreciative” of the culture. But her previous statement left some social media users taken aback, and they argued that she’s exploiting Blackness for her benefit.
Also during the interview, Bhabie discussed her rocky relationship with boyfriend LeVaughn, and finding out about his supposed cheating with Alabama Barker.
