Robin Thicke VIBE “White Discrimination” Controversy
VIBE has issued a statement into recent accusations from R&B star Robin Thicke that accuse the urban mag of being racist and failing to offer him a spot on its cover because he is White.
“We have a great deal of respect for Robin Thicke and his music, and we remain flattered by his desire to be on a VIBE cover. A VIBE cover is a huge milestone in any artist’s career—recent cover stars include Young Jeezy, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Usher, Senator Barack Obama, Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Robert De Niro, to say nothing of our 15-year history. We wish Thicke the best, and we’re glad he discusses his thoughts on race and R&B in the new October 2008 issue of VIBE.”
Robin sparked a dialogue on VIBE’s perception of blue-eyed soul singers in an interview with Billboard Magazine this week:
“When I did a recent interview with Vibe magazine I asked, “Why can’t I get the cover? This is a magazine I love. If there’s one magazine that I’d want to be on the cover of, it’s Vibe.” Their response was they don’t have white artists on the cover; that the only white artist they’ve had on the cover was Eminem. I guess if that’s what it is, it is what it is. And I respect that because I live in a house with a black woman.”
“I won’t use the word ‘racism.’ I will say it’s a tough — but rewarding — fight….You can’t always expect people to be as color-blind or open-minded as you want. What you can do is keep giving your heart and soul, like Bob Marley did. His music became so overwhelmingly loving; it was a relentless love in a sense. Keep beating them down with love and they can’t stop you.”
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On October 14th 2009, D'Arcy O wrote:
I can’t stand this reverse racism. I live in a predominantly black neighborhood and every once in a while my kids get grief for being white. This kills me as I raised my kids not to be prejudice and its seems that alot of black people have a bad attitude about white people. Listen, nobody in my family ever owned slaves, we’re Irish and were treated awefully too. I told my neighbors that if my kids were outside calling them or their kids racial slurs they would want to fight me or them about it so why is it okay for them? I honestly try to get along with everyone and so do my children and they know that if they don’t like someone they are to just leave them alone.
On December 16th 2009, memeonlyme wrote:
As an African American woman, I am so sorry to hear that people are bothering your children, because of their race. Vube was wrong for what they did to Robin Thicke! I want all the world stop looking at skin color, too! But this world is full of ignorant people from all races!