It is something of an unspoken cardinal rule that the white woman must never speak “out of turn” against a black woman lest she 1) be accused of white feminism, 2) have her faced scratched off with acrylics for being an overgeneralizing ignorante (ironic, isn’t it, when the stereotype of acrylics turns out to be the culprit for shutting the white girl boca?) or 3) get the full “smackdown” treatment both verbal and physical. Thus, it is entirely possible that Lana Del Rey is the first white lady to have ever taken such a public stance against a black woman when it is widely known in these hyper-sensitive, overly politically correct times that it is simply not what is done.
Case in point, Miley Cyrus was sure to keep her trap shut when Nicki Minaj at last silenced her with just three words at the 2015 VMAs: “Miley, what’s good?” The shade hall of fame comment came on the heels of a Twitter beef that saw Cyrus weighing in on Nicki’s comment about the reason she felt MTV did not give her “Anaconda” video a “Video of the Year” nomination. Minaj said at the time of her snub in the category, “If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist, ‘Anaconda’ would be nominated. If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated…I’m not always confident. Just tired. Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it.’’ Granted, honorary white woman Beyoncé did get nominated for “7/11” that year, but her curves aren’t exactly comparable to Nicki’s.
And yes, black women are the most underrated when it comes to (in addition to most things) how they influence pop culture. White girls like Cyrus are frequently guilty of grafting elements of black girl culture and whitewashing it for the sake of making it “palatable” for their own audience (e.g. Miley “bringing” twerking to middle America, or even Madonna vogueing [not to say gay black men are so effete as to be lumped into the black woman category]–and yes, of course, Del Rey with her A$AP Rocky collaborations). With this being well-known yet widely ignored, it was no wonder Minaj found herself scandalized that Cyrus should speak on things she knows nothing of.
That the other whitest pop stars you know besides Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry (who have an ongoing sub-beef of their own), also felt inclined to toss their hats into the ring was a strong confirmation of just how much Cyrus must have irked Minaj for her to zero in primarily on her as an imbecilic gringa (plus, Perry took Minaj’s side by noting of Swift’s comment to Minaj about the detriment of pitting women against each other, “Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman…”–at the time, the “Bad Blood” video was still a thing).
And it was true, Cyrus made herself (and the white women she “represents”) look extremely tone deaf with her insertion into the commentary Minaj was making by saying selfishly, “I don’t respect your statement because of the anger that came with it. And it’s not anger like, ‘Guys, I’m frustrated about some things that are a bigger issue.’ You made it about you. Not to sound like a bitch, but that’s like, ‘Eh, I didn’t get my VMA.’” Bitch, you’d be fucking angry too if your entire life was characterized by systemic discrimination. But no, she felt inclined to stupidly add, “What I read sounded very Nicki Minaj, which, if you know Nicki Minaj is not too kind. It’s not very polite… I know you can make it seem like, ‘Oh I just don’t understand because I’m a white pop star.’ I know the statistics. I know what’s going on in the world. But to be honest, I don’t think MTV did that on purpose.” This phrasing sounds tantamount to, “I’m very literate, sometimes I’ll read an entire magazine cover to cover.”
Within the framework of this dialogue, it makes all the sense in the world that no white girl should ever feel like she can “clap back” at something a black girl says about her own distinctly different experience in the entertainment industry, and the world at large. Which is precisely why Minaj balked, “The fact that you feel upset about me speaking on something that affects black women makes me feel like you have some big balls. You’re in videos with black men, and you’re bringing out black women on your stages, but you don’t want to know how black women feel about something that’s so important? Come on, you can’t want the good without the bad. If you want to enjoy our culture and our lifestyle, bond with us, dance with us, have fun with us, twerk with us, rap with us, then you should also want to know what affects us, what is bothering us, what we feel is unfair to us. You shouldn’t not want to know that.”
And now let’s talk about Lana Del Rey’s actual big balls in not letting Azealia Banks’ insertion into her “attack” against someone who has long deserved a gigantic collective bitch slap go unchecked. Instead of admitting that Del Rey’s comments were those of an informed and intellectual Fordham graduate by simply letting them lie, she had to bark, “white feminism!” (it’s almost as effective as screaming, “white devil!”). Long known for making controversial comments for the sake of making them in order to keep herself “relevant” (since people in the music industry’s threshold for dealing with irascible and unpredictable characters only extends to Michael Jackson, and he’s dead), Banks perhaps saw an opportunity to draw some traffic to her soap selling operation (she’s taken to selling soap for your asshole called Bussy Boy and Pussy Pop, in case you’re in need) by inventing a new feud.
Worst of all in terms of detracting from any political credibility Banks might have had in accusing Del Rey, like Minaj of Cyrus, of not knowing what she was talking about is that she had to bring a barrage of body-shaming comments into the mix, highlights of which included, “First, we need her to call the surgeon who did her pointy Michael Jackson nose and ask for some kybella for those chicken patties!! Next we need her to head over to Instagram and invest in some @FlatTummyCo lollipops and a $20 waist trainer!” While I’m all for critiquing the physique of those who have managed to procure fame (therefore should always look their best to pay back the gods), this was way too far. What’s more, what Lana spoke on regarding Kanye had less to do with blackness and more to do with disgust over the long-standing erratic behavior of someone as narcissistic as West and the ill-advised manner in which he has wielded his influence to support a “person” that has virtually brought the United States to the brink of Civil War. This is not a “black” issue that one needs to be black to comprehend. It’s a mere matter of being a human being with a semi-functioning emotional mechanism. Which Banks clearly lost long ago when she had to harden her heart and swallow her tears in Harlem; Del Rey, instead, spent some time living in the Bronx before the Heavenly Bodies exhibition at the Cloisters (“Upper Manhattan” is close enough to the Bronx if you ask me) lured so many blancos to the area, so I do tend to believe her when she says, “I won’t not fuck you the fuck up. Period.” Black, white–she don’t care. Just don’t try to defend an asshole for the sake of controversy.
