Raven-Symoné says she's not African-American: 'There's nothing wrong with being an American, purely'

theGRIO REPORT - It's been nine months since Raven-Symoné sent social media to flames with her statements saying that she did not identify as "African-American" but rather just as an "American." So how about part 2?

TheGrio Staff

Jul 17, 2015

It’s been nine months since Raven-Symoné sent social media to flames with her statements saying that she did not identify as “African-American” but rather just as an “American.”

So how about part 2?

In a new interview with PEOPLE, the actress and View co-host doubled down.

She doesn’t like labels, Ok?

“Give me ‘American,’,” she told the magazine of her preferred identity. “There is nothing wrong with being an American, purely.”

Oprah warned her during their interview back in October her comments would send the Internet into overdrive. But Symone is still unbothered.

“I think that there are a lot of different races that fall under ‘American,’ so past that you really just are sub-categorizing me over and over again,” she added. “I’m not disowning my history in any way. My family has been here for almost 400 years. We’re American.”

Raven-Symoné has long eschewed labels, including the label “gay.” She has insisted that she is a “human who loves humans” instead.

But she understands why not everyone is going to feel the same way about their identity and about labels as she does.

“This is me and what I feel about myself,” she said. “But if you identify as African-American, then you’re African-American. What right do I have to tell you what you are and what you’re not?”