Six-year-old Grace Colbert, the young girl who stars in the controversial Cheerios commercial featuring a biracial family, joined Thomas Roberts on MSNBC this morning with her real-life parents.
The young actress said the General Mills commercial was “very fun to make.”
theGrio: Cheerios commercial featuring interracial couple receives racist backlash
“My reaction to it was very excit[ed],” the girl’s father, Christopher Colbert, said about some of the negative comments that followed the release of the ad. “Being a biracial family is just a reality. We’re also a part of the face of America, and so America just needs to see that this is just a way of life and that this is just the way life is today.”
Grace’s mother, Janet Colbert said no sensitive conversations were necessary between her and the kids about the negative backlash.
“Our kids are very open,” she said. “I inquired to my daughter about it and she thought all the attention was because she had a great smile.”
Roberts pointed out that the number of interracial couples in the U.S. has quadrupled since 1980.
“I’m so excited about the reaction toward the commercial and the biracial families because, once again, that is just a way of life,” Christopher Colbert said.
“People having a problem with who I chose to love and whom you chose to love, it shouldn’t be an issue anymore,” he said.
Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @carrieheals.