Rihanna on Rachel Dolezal: 'Is it such a horrible thing that she pretended to be black?'

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

During an interview for Vanity Fair, Rihanna shared her opinion of the controversy surrounding former NAACP chapter president Rachel Dolezal, who recently was revealed to be white after passing herself off as black for so long.

“I think she was a bit of a hero, because she kind of flipped on society a little bit,” Rihanna said during the interview. “Is it such a horrible thing that she pretended to be black? Black is a great thing, and I think she legit changed people’s perspective a bit and woke people up.”

https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/651439181072367616

https://twitter.com/GeauxGabby/status/651349057160396800

https://twitter.com/youngsinick/status/651366720993689600

https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/651387069047115776

This year, Vanity Fair also did an interview with Dolezal herself, who explained why she continued to identify herself as black despite the way she was born.

“It’s not a costume,” Dolezal said. “I don’t know spiritually and metaphysically how this goes, but I do know that from my earliest memories I have awareness and connection with the black experience, and that’s never left me.”

“Like I said, I’ve had my years of confusion and wondering who I really [was] and why and how do I live my life and make sense of it all, but I’m not confused about that any longer,” Dolezal continued. “I think the world might be—but I’m not.”