I’ve always heard from commenters and internet peeps that Camila Cabello was/is quite racist. But trying to pin down the facts always seemed slightly tricky? People would point to comments she made on a defunct Tumblr account, or various old tweets which had been long-since deleted (and which could have been Photoshopped). Whenever I tried to find the root of the racism claims (which often seemed like a whisper campaign), it didn’t seem like anyone could really provide a video or an interview where she said something racist AF. Well… this week, one user provided the receipts for Camila’s old Tumblr (the account was vous-etess-belle) and her teenage racism – go here to see. Those receipts started getting picked up. And so now Camila has offered an apology, saying in part:
When I was younger, I used language that I’m deeply ashamed of and will regret forever. I was uneducated and ignorant and once I became aware of the history and the weight and true meaning behind this horrible and hurtful language, I was deeply embarrassed I ever used it. I apologized then and I apologize again now. I would never intentionally hurt anyone and I regret it from the bottom of my heart. … Once you know better, you do better, and that’s all I can do.
She goes on to say that she’s 22 years old now and she stands for inclusivity, etc. You can see the apology post below. I mean… it’s bad. The original stuff wasn’t just ONE comment, or ONE mistake. It was like she was f–king obsessed with being racist AF over and over again. So… I don’t know. I think it’s good that she apologized, but I think a lot of people probably will cancel her, if they haven’t already.
Um, do you think this will affect her “relationship” with Shawn Mendes? I do. I actually wonder if they’re even still together at the moment.
I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. pic.twitter.com/iZrnUawUAb
— camila (@Camila_Cabello) December 18, 2019
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Lol Shawn had the same issue earlier this year when he got called out by some fans for racist/homophobic tweets when he was younger too. His response, if I recall correctly, was a lot less apologetic.
Exactly. I never saw his response though.
Shawn mendes also engaged in “teenage racism ” as you call it so this won’t be a dealbreaker for him. Im waiting for her to be specific in her apology before even considering it. as in specifically directed to Normani who she called the n word many times.
I thought I read that it was her fans calling Normani the N word? Was it Camilla herself? If so, that’s really, really bad.
Camilla had made a lot of alt social media accounts using racist words directed at people. She shut them down when it came out that they belonged to her. Her popularity is going downhill, and her music isn’t has successful as the executives thought it would be. I personally dont support her because of her history of being an energy sucker in every interview…and the obviously fakeness. I know she’s not the only celebrity to be fake….but she’s too obvious about it…
It Will probably be a dealbreaker if it hurts him publicly. A bunch of these celebrities aren’t apologetic because they’re racist only because they get caught
This is a shitty, vague apology imo. “horrible and hurtful language” could mean anything. Say RACIST. You were being RACIST. Almost obsessively so. Age is not an excuse. Not for THIS much evidence. Ugh.
I’m a white woman, so I don’t get to choose if she is ‘forgiven’. The frequency is disturbing, though. I had a stupid blog at 15 full of embarrassing stuff, but I never posted something racist once let alone multiple times.
As a white woman you get to CHOOSE whatever you want and who YOU forgive. Don’t act powerless which is pointless and helps no one. As a white woman myself, I personally think her apology was only because she was exposed and not sure she was sincere at all so…we’ll see
Oh, I totally agree that she said unacceptable, horribly racist things and is only apologising now because she got found out. I just meant I don’t think it’s relevant whether I magnanimously ‘forgive’ her or not because I don’t have to face racism day in day out. Her apology is not for me. Sorry, I’m not explaining myself right.
Raina, your response comes across extremely rude and aggressive. Next time consider if that kind of tone is truly necessary. Happy holidays.
Raina, I got that from your first post…you weren’t part of the group of people being targeted by her racism, so it isn’t up to you bestow forgiveness. You explained yourself fine.
Screen captures of Facebook and Twitter posts have been out there for awhile and her stans always claim they’re fabricated. Some of these included her calling Normani the n-word. The stuff on that Tumblr is horrific and it’s been captured by the Wayback Machine now, so it doesn’t matter that her team has deleted it. They were stupid to leave it up in the first place. A lot of that stuff is not just stupid, ignornant, un-woke comments from a teenager who “didn’t know better”. It’s MAGA level racism. She also made fun of Rihanna for being beaten by Chris Brown and talked shit about her one-time benefactor, Taylor Swift. Her latest album was flopping hard before this so she might be done now.
Whenever an Artist is flopping I feel as if possibly it’s their Record company who dig up these receipts to make it easier for them to sever the relationship by invoking say a morality/ behaviour/ values clause….
Is anyone else sick of this? It feels like every 20 something main stream/top 100’s pop star has some really problematic social media content from when they were a tween/teenager. Its always the same pathetic apology too. They act like they’re the only one who was ever a teenager. I’m 31, I remember being a teenager and I never said anything like this. Not ever, because I knew it was wrong and hurtful and inappropriate. Being 15 isn’t an excuse.
Yeah I don’t remember ever being that kind of teenager that I went racist purely from being young. Sure I knew plenty who were and I avoided them. Teenagers are gullible but not dumb. Hopefully the racist ones do actually evolve but so much is ingrained at a young age. Sad. Lot of it depends on family and how informed the kid is.
Seriously. I was a total asshole when I was a teenager and I can recall about a dozen instances where i could have been totally offensive and yeah, even i did better.
She was cruel and racist towards Normani as an adult.
I don’t understand how this kind of thing is CONSTANTLY in the news. Like what the hell kind of families are people being raised in that they think this sort of thing is okay?
I knew from a VERY VERY young age that racism is horrifying. I learned that there are words that I would NEVER use. Still have never used them in my life.
There just seems to be SO many parents dropping the ball if they’re supposedly not racist, but I suspect there’s just a lot more openly racist people out there than I realized growing up. You have to wonder though – how hard is it to spend a few minutes explaining to your child that there are words that are off limits that have a long horrifying history.
Anyway, I guess good that she offered SOME sort of apology? I really do hope that she has actually learned why it was so wrong for her to do in the first place, but I’m not holding my breath.
I mean… we want people to learn and grow. I’ll give her SOME room to do that – and it seems like she has, at least somewhat. I hope so anyway. I have no issue with people wanting to cancel her, though.
The same people who don’t put shopping carts back because “someone else is paid to do it”. Entitlement and racism seem to go hand in hand.
She’s a turd and I hope she is permanently cancelled. I don’t believe for one minute she is sorry.
She is only sorry because she got caught…………….js
Woah. While I think cancel culture is generally overrated, this might be the necessary exception. I don’t care how young she was – there is no excuse for this.
So-called cancel culture might be ‘over-rated’ NOW, but it started because there were people out there who had engaged in racist, homophobic or monstrous behaviour and needed to be exposed for who they really were.
I have no idea who this woman is but if she called someone a n*gger on a regular basis, PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
I don’t care how “uneducated” you claim to be, there are certain words that everyone knows that they shouldn’t say. She deserves any backlash that comes her way.
I clicked the link, this is way more than just saying the word. This woman obviously HATES multiple races of people. Was she raised by wolves? I cannot fathom how any parents would allow their children to grow up so bigoted. I hope that her career takes a hit, sometimes you need to learn that there are consequences for acting terribly.
Bigotry is the perfect word for her posts. And she did it over and over and over. It’s clearly who she is.
I’m so sad for any POC that ends up seeing these images. I forget how horrible people can be to each other…and then I remember that POC don’t have the privilege of forgetting. This story and her posts have really upset me. I can only imagine if I was a woman of color or a victim of domestic abuse.
I agree. But her career is shot, for one reason, she can not sing. She sounds like a little girl. Hope she goes away, far, far away. js
I hate when people say “I didn’t know the meaning of the word” GIRL!!!!!! Literally EVERYONE knows the meaning behind the word. That’s why they say it.
Yep. Unless she was raised in a void, there is no way this girl did not know the meaning of that word. She’s a rotten little racist brat and I hope her career tanks over this.
She can miss me with this lame ass apology. The bitch is racist. And the only reason she even felt the need to “apologize” is because now there is evidence that her and her stans can’t claim was doctored or photoshopped. And for the record – she DID call Normani the N-word on Twitter. And then promptly deleted it. The screenshots of that are REAL. So yeah… f-ck Camilla Cabello and her mediocre music.
100%
I’m black, so I may have a different perspective- but I knew racism was bad from a very, very young age and what was racist and what wasnt. I was always, always taught respect and inclusivity – I didnt LEARN it when i was 22.
Also this is most definitely going to be the end of her and Shawn Mendes, though she keeps talking about him in Interviews, he is kind off looking a bit checked out of it all. These PR relationships are only as good as the PR on either sides.
There ain’t enough sorry’s in this world or the next to make up for those HORRIFIC…AND RELENTLESS RACIST AF MEMES THAT SHE POSTED ON HER ACCOUNT!!!!
Nope…she can keep her apologies….ALL OF THEM!
The memes she posted were sooooo bad. It was heartbreaking to see so much repeated use of horrible stereotypes.
When i was 6 years old, I knew it was wrong when my neighbor told racist jokes, and I went home to talk to my mom about it. There’s NO WAY as a teenager she didn’t know this was wrong.
For her to now say “ I only stand and have ever stood for love and inclusivity, and my heart has never, even then, had any ounce of hate or divisiveness”, is such BS. It is hateful to post what she did.
EXACTLY. Her age has nothing to do with it. I stood up to my racist step-grandfather when I was a child and would raise holy hell when he started spewing his racist bullcrap.
WORD.
UP.
I didn’t use racist language at 15, or at any age for that matter and I am a hell of a lot older than she is. I knew it was wrong. Saying she was young is no excuse and notice she never addresses what she did as being racist. Horrible and hurtful doesn’t begin to describe the garbage she posted. What in the hell is wrong with these people? She deserves whatever fallout she gets for this.
Camila made those post while in the group with Normani. Just imagine Normani had to deal with being around someone who had these views so strongly.
Behavior learned at home, because all teens don’t do this.
All teens definitely don’t do this I’m with you there. Learned at home is possible and happens with racism? but if she’s posting she’s also surfing the web. Teens and even younger kids learn and are immersed in good and bad things online. Could be learned at home, at school, from people she met elsewhere or reading online. She was 15 so she had time to form her own views not connected to her parents.
Great point, Toot. Think of how many times in her life she has let these bigoted feelings impact her treatment of people of color.
3 clues for me that her racism is entrenched is that it’s casual, spiteful and constant. It is who she is and she’s only worrying about it from a pr/sales perspective. Other than that, she’d probably post a picture of the middle finger in response to the backlash.
I remember reading comments on this site that would say she has said racist things in the past against Normani but then someone would always counter and say that this was a false rumor and there was never any proof. I could never keep up and since I’m not Camila’s target audience and found her music as bland as her, I just ignored her. It looks like the tumbler account has already been scrubbed. At this point, I’m not even shocked anymore. Being 15 is not an excuse. Full stop. I can’t even with the apologies anymore. It’s just exhausting at this point.
It seems like every other month people find out new/old stuff about her being racist. Honestly, seeing that twitter thread and the things she posted, it was so much stuff, not just “a mistake” or a phase (I can’t believe some people say that) because she was young. And frankly, this excuse doesn’t cut it with me, I’m also a young latina woman and I’ve never done anything like this, when I was a kid I was obsessed with Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, not with reblogging racist things on tumblr and saying the n word.
Oh and another thing, it would be nice if Camila (and any of those famous people caught being racist) actually said the words “black people” in their apologies, because all I see is the same “I love all humans, I stand for equality” without mentioning once the people that were offended .
Girl, Bye
Save your apology that’s how you feel because if it wasn’t it wouldn’t take somebody posting this Tumblr yesterday for you to apologize.
If she really had a change of heart she could of had addressed this months or years ago.
WORD.
Have several seats. Who cares.
I too was young once and nope I never used racist language because I knew how f”ing wrong it was! Can we stop using I was young as an excuse to be an awful person? She’s trash and only apologizing because someone brought receipts.
That apology is not well done at all, yikes! She’ll need to re apologize I bet. Which will get her more attention. Is the crap apology deliberate?
I do like her last album (2018?) and her bangs. Her, Taylor and Jameela all have these similar bangs which give a cute and soft look. I usually like her clothes too.
I wish I could say I’m amazed that anyone thinks that way, but unfortunately it’s all too common. I’m not even going to read what she posted, because the responses here are enough to tell me it’s horrible, and she needs to GO.
What is ASTOUNDING to me is that anyone, especially someone in the spotlight or trying to be, thinks you can put this all out there on the internet and it won’t come back to bite you. The lone bright spot I guess is that racists like this are just stupid, and end up getting exposed.
Is anyone else having trouble with the link? I can’t seem to find her posts.
Edit: nvm I found it. She’s awful.
Let me state before I get into this that I agree that what she said and how she behaved was ugly and racist. That being said my thoughts on this subject are complex.
Good for all of you who were raised in a pure household where you were taught from day one that racism was wrong. But do not project those standards onto others. Instead, be grateful that you never had to do the work to unlearn it, because it’s hard as h*ll to undo early programming.
Some of us weren’t so lucky. I was raised by an extremely racist father in the deep south in the 70s/80s. Racism was normalised in my early life. Sure, we learned about the subject in school but when you get home and you’re surrounded by people who spew racist words and display racist behaviors… I actually know exactly how someone – especially a young person – can internalise racism without realizing the impact of such thought patterns.
It was not until I left home at 17 and got out into the real world that I began to unpack it all. In fact once I truly realized how ugly my upbringing was, how many ugly racist behaviors were pounded into my young mind, I spent my first decade as an adult undoing it all. I have spent the bulk of my life trying to make up for it, in a sense, and be a better person.
I am forever grateful that social media didn’t exist when I was a child, as there is a high likelihood that I would’ve made the same mistakes Camilla did. I was definitely that ignorant which is very embarassing to admit. But I had the chance to grow and learn and evolve. I have spent the entirety of my life trying to make up for the ugliness of my upbringing.
Obviously as I’m not the targeted group it’s not my place to forgive and that’s not what I’m doing here. I’m simply trying to illustrate that change is possible. I hope that Camilla is given the chance to look deep into her heart and become a better person. I believe almost every person can grow and change, and in my opinion if she’s willing to put in the hard work she should be given that chance.
I actually agree with you that change is possible. But this is not the example I would be using. Camilla was posting these things while she was in a group with a black girl,
Normani, who she regularly referred to as a n-gger. And that this took place during the social media age when people her age are exposed to people of ALL different racial backgrounds. That she worked in an industry FULL of black people and people of color. This didnt happen in the 70/80’s this happened literally a couple of years ago.Camilla was ACTIVELY a part of group with diverse members in it and was STILL posting s*it like this. In this day and age their is simple NO EXCUSE. Period.
@ValiantlyVarnished
Agreed. And if it didn’t really end till 2 years ago? She wasn’t a dumb ignorant teen then, she was 20, and by then in the girl group and exposed to all kinds of people of different backgrounds and sexual orientation. She should have known better by then at least.
@ Valiantly Varnished
Agreed 100%. She’s a good old fashioned racist. No room to wriggle around, it’s very clear.
About f*cling time! Sheesh. And i don’t think being young is an excuse, like another commenter said, when I was a teenager I did/said all kinds of embarrassing things on the internet, but none of it was racist.
And one wonders how all the sudden she’s all wise and not a racist? Many people and celebrities r closet racists ..put on an act to keep their fans and money flow comin in
When black and brown people tell you someone is racist, #believethem.
The problem with racism “proof” is that people who don’t understand racism think the only acceptable proof is using a “bad word” or something else blatant. But that’s not how it works — the majority of racism swirling around the planet is subtle and imperceptible to people who don’t have to deal with it.
Yup! 5H fans of colour have been saying for YEARS that Camila Cabello is a racist sh-thead. “Whispering campaign” it wasn’t, lmao!!!! People had receipts of her sh-t. It wasn’t photoshopped.
100% to this so much. Honestly, white people often do not see/understand the more subtle, insidious types of racism. It takes an egregious act for them to see. No doubt she was even more racist to Normani in dozens of small ways.
POC be knowing… trust us on spotting the racism. Also Camilla’s music is bad.
I have never believed her relationship with Shawn Mendes was real. A friend of mine who works in the music industry and was involved in promoting Camila’s album, has the same suspicion. It’s a sham for publicity.
I’ve never liked Camila, something about her has always seemed off to me and she’s always given me a bad vibe. Now I know why. Jesus Christ the stuff she posted/wrote over the years is just horrible.
Nope. I never did this kind of crap when I was younger.
Nope. CANCELLED.
Well she was “just a teenager” a few years ago ! The fact she thought it was ok to say that sh*t JUST A FEW YEARS AGO is disgusting. How the f*ck did she not know it was racist ??? She’s playing dumb. Just like Shawn and his racist tweets. These two have a lot in common…which saddens me because I always liked Shawn…but my God how tone def can you be.
Everyone who’s in the know with Fifth Harmony knew about her being racist and absolutely deplorable. She never apologized for any of it. Her stans continued to stan her and treated her fellow 5H member, Normani, so poorly that she had to take a break from social media all together. Camila’s always been disgusting. I don’t know how this was a whisper campaign lol.
She should publicly apologize to Normani. It will be interesting to see how her relationship with Taylor Swift progresses now….birds of a feather and all that!
She was bad at 15. Is she bad now? I don’t know, but if we start judging people for the stupid/ignorant/hurtful things they did as teenagers, we couldn’t stand anyone now. Judgy people who didn’t grow up in the social media era should feel blessed all the silly things they said and did back then are not forever in some corner of the internet.
She called Normani the n-word two years ago. When she was 20. Stop making excuses for racists.