Iggy Azalea Responds After Being Blasted For Blackfishing In New Music Video
"This is the colour I wear, it’s on the arm colour of a tan white person."
Iggy Azalea has hit back after being accused of blackfishing in the music video for her recent single ‘I Am The Stripclub’.
The music video dropped last Friday, and features the naturally fair-skinned Azalea with a very dark tan and wearing a long, black wig — essentially unrecognisable. The Mullumbimby rapper — born Amethyst Kelly — was immediately criticised for blackfishing: the act of changing your looks to appear Black or mixed-race, whether through makeup, Photoshop, or cosmetic surgery.
And again, the way industries normalize blackfishing is wild AF. https://t.co/h2kkotmJBn
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) July 3, 2021
Folks have no clue or comment about the constant policing of Black women’s bodies but somehow always know how to dress up in blackface to imitate us & make some $$ pic.twitter.com/hdXCtimfNi
— DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES (@BreeNewsome) July 2, 2021
You coulda gave me 8,000 tries to guess who this was for $1 million dollars and I would've never guessed Iggy Azalea ? pic.twitter.com/D2TGXjF0R8
— IGZ (@igzrap) July 3, 2021
y’all tellin me this the same person pic.twitter.com/5bae1k7zWk
— A̵̮̟̩͚͉͚̪͚͊̌̄̅̐̄͘͠ͅ (@notcoolalexis) July 2, 2021
Azalea immediately hit back at the accusations, calling them “ridiculous and baseless” and arguing she was wearing the same foundation that she has worn for six years.
“I’m wearing a shade 6 in Armani foundation, it’s the same shade I’ve worn for the last three years,” she replied to a critic on Twitter. “It’s the same shade in every music video since ‘Sally Walker’. Suddenly I wear a black wig in a club scene and it’s an issue.”
“This is the colour I wear, it’s on the arm colour of a tan white person,” she continued in another tweet. “I’m not wearing crazy dark makeup at ALL. Everyone in the club scene looks darker, it’s a club scene!”
She added she was sick of people trying to “make shit a problem when all I’ve done is try a hair colour.” She went on to argue that in the video she was the “same colour I always am”, it just looked different because she was in a dark club. “It’s the same makeup from every other part of the video just with a smokey eye and different wig,” she wrote.
I can’t care about something that ridiculous and baseless.
I’m wearing a shade 6 in armarni foundation, it’s the same shade I’ve worn for the last 3 years.
It’s the same shade in every music video since sally Walker.
Suddenly I wear a black wig in a club scene & its an issue.— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) July 3, 2021
This is the color I wear, it’s on the arm color of a tan white person.
I’m not wearing crazy dark makeup at ALL.
Everyone in the club scene looks darker, it’s a club scene!
I’m sick of ppl trying to twist my words or make shit a problem when all I’ve done is try a hair color. pic.twitter.com/CGQIOQiWGD— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) July 3, 2021
I’m the same color as I always am, just in a dimly lit room with red lights.
It’s the same makeup from every other part of the video just with a Smokey eye and different wig.
Just ignore them, who cares?
Let em talk.— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) July 2, 2021
“To everyone showing me love: Thank you for dedicating your day to me and helping me promote, I love you!” She finished. “To everyone showing me hate: Thank you for dedicating your day to me and helping me promote, I love you!”
Azalea’s fans strenuously pointed out that the aesthetic in the behind the scenes video looks quite different to the final version — perhaps suggesting that Azalea’s facial tone was due to colour correction and post-production editing.
View this post on Instagram
Of course, it’s not the first cultural appropriation rodeo that Azalea has been involved with — she’s come under fire numerous times over her career for appropriating a ‘blaccent’, using Black fashion and dancing, and has been accused of essentially being a modern day minstrel.