To be shocked Ariana Grande is White

[IslandGyal]

I’ve just discovered the new trend of ‘blackfishing’ whereby white celebrities and models try and appear racially ambiguous.

I think it’s more common in the states. However one of the most common examples is Ariana Grande who seems to have almost changed races.

See the picture in this article: medium.com/@abbs664/ariana-grande-blackfishing-d42a8cb726ea

Is anyone else kinda shocked that Grande is a white Italian.

I always assumed she was Latin American or mixed race black. It’s also quite problematic that she appears to tone down her look when it suits by appearing lighter on vogue.

Aibu

Her parents have the same skin tone - she's Italian american for christ sake. I have a similar skin tone and go very dark when tanned.

[quote IslandGyal]It’s also interesting that her ex fiancé noticed the extreme change of shades.

www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/celebrity/pete-davidson-calls-out-ex-fiancée-ariana-grande-for-spray-painting-herself-brown-on-vogue-cover/ar-BB10rYac[/quote]
Do agree the photo in the link of your OP was photoshopped. If you google the original award ceremony photos she is not that shade in any of the photos

In the winter you'd assume my husband was white, in the summer you might think he was 'black fishing' - he's mixed Middle Eastern.
He was also quite fair as a child and now has very dark hair & facial hair.

Ariana Grande is an Italian American as far as I'm aware. Some Italians are very dark featured.

Me too, OP. Good god, it must be about her style of singing and bandwagon jumping. Utterly unreal.

Agreed OP. I was shocked to find out she was white, I assumed she was Latina.

It's certain becoming a big issue, I know of many white women who change their appearance to appear black, not just by tanning but also having lip fillers, BBL's, etc. The same features black women were mocked for are now sought after by young white women, and only now are they widely considered beautiful (always have been beautiful IMO).

@ancientgran

It's problematic that people are desperate to work out who is black and who isn't and get upset when they get it wrong. My DD gets this, "where are you from?" She never discusses her background if people ask this, she will if it is in context with something she is discussing so it isn't that she is denying her background she just hates the assumption that she is from somewhere else, her skin doesn't designate that.

She been mistaken for Spanish, Italian, Moroccan, Indian, Pakistani, Egyptian among others. She is a chameleon I think. Although she hates the "where are you from" she finds the speculation quite funny, particularly if she is abroad and people assume she is local and chat to her in their language.

This is literally me. Italian people speak Italian to me, same for Spanish and Latin American people, happens a lot in the South of France too. British and Irish people make racist jokes about Asian or Black people to me because I don’t “look” Asian/African. I’ve become an “honorary Hungarian” etc etc.

It really annoys me that people feel the need to assume my ethnicity and make it a big deal.

My family living and born in the U.K. regularly have to deal with idiots bowing and saying “namaste” to them. They are Muslim not Hindu.

@IslandGyal

Yes white people and particularly Southern Europeans can tan.

But look at the difference in shades. She’s not going up one or two shades.

It’s quite dramatic and I’m assuming it’s not a natural as celebrities would not damage their skin like that by tanning outside or on a sunbed.

Here’s 2 photos taken of her at the same awards ceremony. What do you notice?

I always assumed she was Latin American

Whatever Latin American means. Basically nothing in genetic terms and even less than "race".
Latin Americans, as coming from a Latin American country, can go from very white (think nazis migrating to Argentina) to very dark.

@user1471565182

You're right OP, its a piss take, she takes the bits about being black that are to her advantage in the music industry but avoids the masses of disadvantages it would also bring.

This is exactly it. There is a lot of defensive denial on here.

She's certainly not alabaster! She's Sicilian (unless I'm wrong?) which means if she's anything like my cousin she'll pick up a tan like pebbles. Pair that with the fact she lives in Florida and she cakes on fake tan like most young girls then I'd say it's less black-fishing and more very heavy makeup.

I never thought she was mixed race or black

I just thought she was mixed.

I never got why Italians are considered white. My DH was southern Italian and his skin tone was darker, very dark eyes, dark thick hair.

I thought she was at least part black for a long time!
It's normal to make assumptions upon what we see 🙄
My son is very pale and has red hair, but I am mixed black and white and therefore he is part black but nobody will know that, he will always be assumed to be white unless he tells somebody or they know different.

She seems to be being marketed as the next Mariah Carey and Mariah has a black parent so maybe that’s why. I’d also assumed she was Latina tbh.

My DH's skin tone changes. In winter, he looks pale/sallow. In summer, he's about three shades darker. He has Italian ancestry.

I'm vaguely amused that anyone thinks cover pics aren't edited. How can they have missed all the furore about cover stars calling for non-edited pics to be released? It seems some people ignore all popular culture developments/arguments until there's one where they can align with white men to attack women. I'm sure there's a name for that ...

@38weekswithno2

In the winter you'd assume my husband was white, in the summer you might think he was 'black fishing' - he's mixed Middle Eastern. He was also quite fair as a child and now has very dark hair & facial hair.

Ariana Grande is an Italian American as far as I'm aware. Some Italians are very dark featured.

Some Italians are very dark featured and as such can find their 'whiteness' questioned. Often they go out of their way to stress that they are 'white'. It appears from the early photo of her that Grande was not a dark Italian though.

I haven't clicked the link but is this about the picture that was photoshopped by another media outlet to brand her as being offensive?

I understand what your saying. Not that she's trying to be black but that she is whiter naturally.

My kids watch a tv programme which she starred in before she was a singer. I was shocked.

I expected her "tan" was natural.

This sounds like some fake-woke bullshit

I have just checked her Instagram (her own posts and tagged) and none of her photos show her skin tone being as tanned as the photo in that article. That photo has has been edited to make her skin seem darker, yet you’re basing your entire argument on that one photo. Ridiculous.

Also she doesn’t look black or mixed-black in any of her other photos. She looks like her own ethnicity. Her fans are teenagers and younger, and frankly her fans are predominantly white. Her aesthetic with the hair and emphasising her petite frame is appealing to them, no one else.

She's no different to how she has ever been. I can't say I ever thought about her 'race' before you mentioning it but her name sounds vaguely Italian so presumably she is of Italian descent.

Just checked with wiki: Italian-American.

When did she ever say she was black for goodness sakes?

Jesus after seeing that picture I might change my mind!

[quote IslandGyal]@LindaEllen

It matters because I as a black women may want to support another black womens product.

Say I buy clothes designed from an Instagram influencer who is pretending to be black buy using heavy fake tan and hairstyles who is actually white this deprives me of the right to support a real black designer.[/quote]
There's a difference between someone looking a certain way, and them saying 'I am black please support me' when they're actually white. Again, you're judging on how people choose to dress. You - as a black woman - do not have a monopoly over a certain hairstyle. Nor can you stop people from tanning if they want to.

Is supporting small influencers not enough? Do they really have to be black for you to support them? Isn't that racist in itself, saying you're not supporting white influencers?

I still don't understand why you can't just support influencers you like - REGARDLESS of their colour or background. Why you want (and why should they provide!) information about their ethnic background to deserve your support? Is that not the kind of thing you're not legally allowed to discriminate on with job applications, for example?

@ThatIsNotMyUsername

You just have to watch Italian tv from the south and you can see the skin tone and hair is much darker, more North African than Northern European.

This is true, but people of native Italian origin officially count as white. The ones who look racially ambiguous are often particularly racist, as they want to ensure their whiteness is in no doubt. At the end of the day whiteness is a status, not a race. Some people like Ariana Grande will appear to go the other way and try to make themselves appear non-white, but as the article points out, she can wash the tan off when needed. And she is not one of the darker ones naturally.

[quote IslandGyal]It’s also interesting that her ex fiancé noticed the extreme change of shades.

www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/celebrity/pete-davidson-calls-out-ex-fiancée-ariana-grande-for-spray-painting-herself-brown-on-vogue-cover/ar-BB10rYac[/quote]
Yes because exes are never salty and bitchy right? Exes always speak positively about their ex right?

@Marmite27

I’m not shocked, but then I thought Adele was black (before I’d seen a picture of her, to be clear!)

I assumed George Ezra was too from hearing him on the radio.