Sam Smith Defends Himself After Making Controversial Remarks About Racism
"Here's to people being allowed to be people."
Sam Smith, Golden Globe/Grammy/All the Other Awards Ever winner, recently witnessed an instance of racism against a friend and responded to it in the way anyone in 2016 would: by hitting Twitter and expressing his dismay in 140 characters or fewer.
Just experienced my friend getting verbally abused racially in London. I am absolutely SPEECHLESS.January 20, 2016
I never ever ever ever thought that would happen here. Absolutely speechless and hurt.January 20, 2016
I feel like I have to shine some sort of light on it. The police were so unhelpful in the situation and its deeply shocked me.January 20, 2016
Sam's tweets are clearly coming from a good place, but the Internet was quick to point out that racism has been a problem for a while now, and that as someone whose music is influenced by R&B, he should be more educated on the matter.
Sam ended up addressing the matter with an Instagram post, explaining that he doesn't profess to understand the experience of racism, but that he does have personal experience with bullying.
People are right to voice their concern when a celebrity speaks about racism in a way that could seem naive, but it looks like everyone in this social-media meeting of the minds ended up agreeing on one thing: that no one should be judged for the color of their skin, their sexual preferences, or their gender. Ever.
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Mehera Bonner is a celebrity and entertainment news writer who enjoys Bravo and Antiques Roadshow with equal enthusiasm. She was previously entertainment editor at Marie Claire and has covered pop culture for over a decade.