EXCLUSIVE: Laz Alonso on Amara La Negra’s ‘afro-latina’ issues, Janet Jackson & more

The actor attended the ninth annual AAFCA Awards in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening.

Laz Alonso has never been one to hold his tongue and he had plenty to say while walking the red carpet at the ninth annual AAFCA Awards in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening.

Cortney Wills

Feb 8, 2018

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Laz Alonso has never been one to hold his tongue and he had plenty to say while walking the red carpet at the ninth annual AAFCA Awards in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

TheGrio caught up with the Afro-Cuban actor at the awards ceremony where he was being honored for his film, Detroit.

Even though the movie didn’t do too well at the box office, its message resonated with critics. Alonso explained how proud he is of the story told in the wrenching film.

“It’s a story that needed to be told,” he says.

On another topic, we were dying to to get Alonso’s take on the recent dust up between Amara La Negra and Charlamagne.

The actor says he doesn’t think Charlamagne was antagonizing Amara La Negra during their heated interview on The Breakfast Club. He claims the radio personality was simply ignorant about La Negra’s colorism issues and insisted the clip didn’t show the whole story.

“We actually had a really dope conversation on the phone afterwards…I responded emotionally to that clip, I’m not gonna lie,” he says. “As a melanated nation, we have to have these conversations. We have a tremendously long history before slavery that we were never taught. We are learning that history from each other.”

The actor and self-proclaimed Janet Jackson fanatic also weighed in on Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl performance and shared his thoughts on #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay.

“I felt like Justin Timberlake should have made it a point to bring him onstage, no ifs ands or buts. He should have done it,” he says. “It should have been his duty to redeem her.”

Be sure to check out the full interview above.