Stars Who Had Their Blackness Questioned - Page 8

Super Bowl winning Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s team is off to a shaky 3-3 start, but the star QB suddenly has other issues on his plate. Earlier this week, in a story broken by BleacherReport.com, Mike Freeman said the Seahawks’ locker room was divided due to some teammates questioning Wilson’s blackness.

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Wilson shot down the reports as media hype, but he’s one in a long line of black entertainers and athletes to have charges of not being black enough leveled against them. Follow along as we take a look at stars who’ve had their blackness questioned.

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Photo: WENN

photo: WENN

Tiger Woods infamously coined the term “Cablanasian” during a 1997 appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show when asked about his racial background. Critics also take aim at his two most public love interests—Elin Nordegren and Lindsey Vonn—being white.

ESPN commentator Rob Parker was suspended for 30 days in 2013 for calling Washington Washington Football Team QB Robert Griffin III a “cornball brother.” Parker questioned Griffin voting Republican and being engaged to a white woman.

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Serving in President George W. Bush’s cabinet is a quick way to get labeled a sellout. Just ask, former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

“I look white, but I’m biracial,” rapper Logic recently told Angela Yee of Power 105’s The Breakfast Club. “I know how I look and how I might be perceived.” The statements were made after Charlamagne Tha God referred to Logic as a “white rapper.”

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Agreeing with Bill O’Reilly about black on black crime statistics in the wake of the Trayvon Martin verdict was only the latest case of CNN’s Don Lemon ruffling feathers in the black community.

Clarence Thomas is subjected to “Uncle Tom” insults based off being a conservative, black Republican alone. But after siding with the majority in the landmark 2013 Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder, the allegations only intensified.

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Racist whites level charges of socialism against President Barack Obama, while some blacks claim the half-Kenyan, half-white POTUS doesn’t do enough for the black community.

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According to Quincy Jones, the late Tupac Shakur berated him for marrying white women. Jones’ daughter, actress and writer Rashida Jones, replied with a scathing letter in The Source, and the issue was resolved. Shakur eventually dated Rashida Jones.

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Between her regular appearances on Fox News, and her frequent criticism of President Obama, actress Stacey Dash has repeatedly drawn the ire of black Twitter.

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Much like Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell took heat for serving under George W. Bush as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Like most black Republicans he was stereotyped, but Powell says he voted for Barack Obama for two consecutive terms.

In what may very well be a case of the pot calling the kettle black (bad pun intended), writer and cultural critic Toure called Dr. Ben Carson the GOP’s “Black Friend” with “intellectual tumors.”

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Prior to his infamous 1994 murder trial, O.J. Simpson was derided for moving out of the black community, marrying a white wife and portraying black caricatures in his film roles

Shall we throw in some dancing and an additional backflip or nah, Mr. Gooding?

Don’t get it twisted just because he dances and sings show tunes. In a February 2014 interview Wayne Brady told Comcast, “At no time in my life have I ever done anything that could be called buffoonery or coonery.”

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Yes, Russell Wilson might have appeared in a Microsoft commercial filmed in the least black barbershop in the history of Western Civilization. But after recent reports of teammates questioning his blackness, former NFL running back Tiki Barber told Sports Illustrated the reports were overblown and that Wilson “can’t help” his background.