Maxwell says Black History Month should celebrate everyone’s history

Maxwell found himself in a bit of controversy over a tweet suggesting that Black History Month should celebrate everyone’s history, not just that of African-Americans.

“[I]ncluding everyone in black history month is beneficial to all of us cause not all of us look a typical black,” the 43-year-old singer tweeted Wednesday, along with a photograph of Lena Horne. He also tweeted the hashtag, “#blackblueredwhitebiegehistory.”

Within moments, Maxwell’s feed was hit with angry tweets over what some perceived as a watering down of African-American history and the importance of the month-long national holiday celebrating contributions of black culture. The singer eventually deleted the controversial tweets — but not before someone managed to screenshot them.

Responding to one person, Maxwell wrote, “there was a president his mom was white do you recall…?” He also reportedly sent a direct message to one person: “Check the numbers bitch.”

While it’s not clear what he was trying to convey by the tweet, it wasn’t enough to silence the critics. Read a few below.