(JustPatriots.com)- Over the weekend, an Asian actress you’ve probably never heard of took to Twitter for the first time in two years to issue a statement addressing the ongoing criticism over her use of a so-called “blaccent.”
For those of you who never heard of “blaccent,” that’s when someone who isn’t black talks like a black person. (See also Hillary Clinton).
Awkwafina, whose real name is Nora Lum, posted a lengthy “apology” letter to Twitter explaining that “linguistic acculturation, immigrant acculturation, and the inevitable passage of globalized internet slang all play a factor in the fine line between offense and pop culture.”
She claimed that the “dominant” culture appropriates black culture for financial reasons “without acknowledgment nor respect for where those roots come from.”
Then after sufficient groveling, Nora Lum said she never ever meant to “mock, belittle,” or be unkind by talking like a black person, adding that doing so wasn’t in her nature.
Instead, the “Crazy Rich Asians” actress said she appropriated a black accent out of an “undying love and respect for hip hop.”
Yeah, that won’t get the outrage mob off her back.
In a follow-up tweet, Lum said while she plans to remain on other social media platforms, she would be leaving “the ingrown toenail that is Twitter” until 2024.
Naturally, the perpetually angry descended on her tweeted statement like hungry jackals on a carcass.
A lot of the mob were especially angry that Lum had the temerity to issue her statement during Black History Month. Others pointed out that nowhere in her lengthy “apology” did Lum actually apologize for appropriating a black accent.
Nora Lum should’ve taken a leaf from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s book. After AOC got caught faking a black accent she told her Twitter followers that her phony “blaccent” was really “code-switching.”
Lum’s mistake wasn’t offering a half-assed apology. Her mistake was trying to apologize at all.
If she should apologize for anything, it should be her decision to go by a ridiculous name like Awkwafina.
