Raye Racist

[AnonymousUser6]

Having never heard of Raye before her BAFTA success last night I decided to listen to some of her music. Was somewhat enjoying it until her lyrics “All the white men CEOs, fuck your privilege
Get your pink chubby hands off my mouth, fuck you think this is?”
I personally feel these are racist lyrics and they are unacceptable.

In that lyric, she is not discriminating against, antagonising or claiming an individual is inferior to her based on their race, she's pointing out a common truth; that the music industry is dominated by white men, which comes with certain privileges she doesn't have.

Maybe stop looking to take offence and open your eyes to how women, especially women of colour, have been treated in the music industry over the years. Same goes for the film industry.

Maybe we don't actually need to worry about some imagined racism that doesn't affect any of our lives in literally any way on any given day?

Just a thought.

I don't think there is insult or offence by the lyrics denigrating men that performed as assault. The problem lies with specifying an ethnicity and therefore offering their behaviour is somehow associated with it.

There is plenty of lack of privilege amongst all genders, religions and ethnicities there is no need to continue a trope that only one ethnicity in modern society monopolises it.

It doesn't work in reverse because "black privilege" is not a systemic problem.

It's perfectly fair to point out that you've been mistreated by representatives of a powerful demographic because you don't share their unifying characteristics (white & male, in this case).

If fully-able kids bully disabled kids out of the playground, would you call it "ableist" to criticise them for using their capacity against the others?

Rodriguez was cruelly cheated by a record company executive who happened to be black. Personally I think it would be racist to refer to this exploitation as being somehow related to the manager’s skin colour.

Is it really that controversial to address the fact that the music industry (in fact most industries) are run by rich white men? I mean she's hardly punching down with those lyrics is she.

What if someone was 'mean' about rich black men? So it's ok to be racist if the subject is rich and white. Got it.

But that's whataboutery isn't it.

I just can't understand how you can summon any energy to be bothered, I bet they aren't bothered. Why not actually look into why she feels this way and the myriad ways women are exploited in the music industry.

There are countless white artists who have been chewed up and spat out by the recording industry so it’s hard to see what skin colour has got to do with it.

Because this is her experience as a WOC?

So if it was a white female recording artist and an abusive manager who was black it would be acceptable to focus on his blackness?

I don't really know how many more times posters can explain why this would not be the same thing.

I don’t see that that case has been made in this thread. The music industry has a long and well documented history of abusing, cheating and exploiting artists; whether they are male or female, Asian, Latino, Black or White etc etc.

The unifying theme is a corrupt and opaque industry where profits are not fairly distributed with artists bound by grossly unfair contracts. It is to Taylor Swift’s enormous credit that she fought back.

Just don’t see how skin colour is relevant, particularly given that there are of course many well documented cases of abusive non - white men in the industry.

Also interesting that latest figures show that Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities are over represented relative to the general population in senior management positions in the UK music industry.

How is mentioning that someone is white racist?!

The girl was sexually assaulted FFS, who are you to tell her that speaking about her abuser in her music is racist?

You are literally REACHING to take offence!

'It doesn't work in reverse because "black privilege" is not a systemic problem'

It doesn't have to have anything to do with privilege. To make sweeping, sneering, derogatory comments based on skin colour is racism.

I'm not reaching to do anything.

The person's actions were the problem, not the skin colour.

Spreading hate? Against sexually abusive music moguls? That's a bit niche.

If originally. ,

What you actually said was that it was racism to do so,

It isn't.

Link please?

I'm assuming Sony et al are still pretty white. But of course smaller, independent record labels started (often) by artists will be more representative.

I think it's the use of 'pink'.

Honestly, spun the other way, a white singer would be absolutely panned

What are the rules then?

White men - free for all? Or is there a line?

When did someone with 3 white grandparents and one black grandparent become black? I thought the one drop rule ended in sixties America?

Focus? Focus?

I'm not sure the song focuses on the race of the men who sexually assaulted her.

You should listen again, this time without your hate-googles on.

“get your pink chubby hands off my mouth”. As others have said, I would feel very uncomfortable even typing that sentence and substituting “black” for “pink”. What do the colour of his hands have to do with the fact that he is an abuser.