Lily Allen is under fire right now for her new video, “Hard Out Here” in which she takes on issues concerning the objectification of women and the double standard in the music industry.
Now she faces allegations, though they are a stretch at best, of racism in the video, according to Spin. Warning: This video is NSFW.
“The video is meant to be a lighthearted satirical video that deals with objectification of women within modern pop culture,” she wrote. “It has nothing to do with race, at all.” She added that despite two weeks of attempting to master Miley’s famous twerk, she was unable to pull it off. She also stated that the reason she was wearing more clothes than the backup dancers was, in fact, her own insecurity, thank you very much.
She took to Twitter to dispel the rumors and tongue lashings she was receiving:
Privilege,Superiority and Misconceptions 1. If anyone thinks for a second that I requested specific (cont) http://t.co/TM7mE6RjGy
— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) November 13, 2013
Allen is no stranger, unfortunately, to racism accusations. In August 2012, she sparked a mass frenzy with this tweet:
I hate it when black cab drivers spend the entire journey on the phone. I WANTED A CHAT !
— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) August 1, 2012
However it may have seemed, the tweet was not racist. It is a little crazy to think someone would say something like that in this day and age, and actually mean the color of someone’s skin. And expect to ever work again….She later tweeted:
When I said 'black cab drivers' I was referring to the colour of the cabs rather than the drivers themselves,OBVIOUSLY. *rolls eyes*
— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) August 1, 2012
While the backlash is damaging to Allen in some ways, and great in others (many fewer would have seen this video, if not for the brewing controversy), it’s sad that her message, bringing attention to the objectification of women in the music industry, may be lost in all the unnecessary hysteria.
Image via youtube