Tory Lanez Calls Out Colorism During Video Shoot
Over the weekend, Tory Lanez called out colorism during a video shoot for Nafe Smallz’s new music video, “Good Love.”
The Canadian R&B crooner alleged that the directors of the video tried to swap out a darker skinned model for a model of a lighter skin tone.
Lanez took to Instagram on Sunday to share a BTS clip from the video shoot. In the video clip, Lanez was performing alongside a black woman, but during their scene, the video crew appeared to signal for another woman, who was noticeably lighter than the woman who was standing in at the time.
Lanez then appeared to bring the shoot to a halt, stating, “she’s already here. you look great though” (check out the clip below).
https://www.instagram.com/p/Byxh8_aA2Vg/
“This is an On-Going problem in our community of entertainment that needs to stop. As a black man, Sometimes I’m going to joke about the black community just like we all do. BUT WHAT I’M NOT GOING TO DO IS ALLOW ANY OF THESE DIRECTORS TO DE-VALUE OUR BLACK WOMEN, “Lanez wrote in his Instagram caption. “Countless times I’ve seen directors swap out our women of color for women of lighter complexion, or women with straighter hair ETC . … IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS ARTIST TO STAND UP AND NOT LET THIS HAPPEN .. it’s BEEN time to embrace our woman of color #BlackIsBeautiful”
Lanez also thanked Nafe Smallz for keeping the initial woman in the video shoot, in his comments.
Although Lanez claimed that colorism took place during the video shoot, DJ Akademiks posted a series of posts on Instagram refuting the singer-rapper’s claims.
“The women who were in the #torylanez video and also the directors are claiming it didn’t go down the way Tory described it on Instagram,” DJ Akademiks wrote.
One of the models also stated that Lanez actually staged the video “to make it appear as if it had something to do with race.”
It’s not clear who is telling the truth about what actually transpired during the video shoot. Lanez has yet to comment on DJ Akademik’s claims.
Glennisha Morgan is a Detroit-bred multimedia journalist and writer. She writes about intersectionality, hip-hop, pop culture, queer issues, race, feminism, and her truth. Follow her on Twitter.
