Tyla Responds After Curving Charlamagne's "Coloured" Question

Source: Noam Galai / Getty / Tyla

Tyla had to waste time out of her busy day to set the record straight one time about her race. The South African “Water” singer is riding a wave of success with her hit single and self-titled debut album and is still making press rounds.

During a recent stop at The Breakfast Club, which is becoming the one-stop if you need some controversy, the singer curved a question from host Charlamagne Tha God regarding the past fallout about comments about her race.

How Did This All Begin?

The drama stems from Tyla identifying as “coloured,” which is quite normal for non-white, mixed citizens from South Africa, but in the states, regarded as a slur by Black Americans. Many folks took her using the term as her way to “disassociate” herself from her Blackness while embracing a term that is widely seen as a slur in the United States. A debate sparked from her using the term, leading to Charlamagne asking for her perspective on the matter. She punted to her team, who told her not to answer in a now-viral clip.

Hours after the fallout from the clip, Tyla took to her X, formerly Twitter account, to address the situation. She stated that she does identify as a Black woman and further clarified her use of the term “coloured.” Per The Vibe:

“Never denied my Blackness, idk where that came from,” she began. “I’m mixed with black/Zulu, irish, Mauritian/Indian and Coloured. in Southa I would be classified as a Coloured woman and other places I would be classified as a black woman. Race is classified differently in different parts of the world.”

The “Jump” artist went on, “I don’t expect to be identified as Coloured outside of Southa by anyone not comfortable doing so because i under stand the weight of that word outside of SA, but to close this conversation, I’m both Coloured in South Africa and a black woman. As a woman for the culture. It’s and not or…with that said ASAMBEEE.” Check out the post below.

The Reactions To Tyla Using “Coloured” Are Still Coming In

Tyla’s initial lack of response to Charlamagne’s question and follow-up statement has not quelled the diaspora war on social media. Many are defending the 22-year-old musician, while others are using the moment to make jokes about her. “She essentially is saying refer to her as coloured AND a black woman depending on context, environment, & comfortability…which is what some people have been saying from the get… and some of y’all are still choosing to argue and make this a diaspora war,” one user on X wrote. Another user joked using The Wayan’s Brother’s iconic opening theme song.

We will log this latest moment in the classic social media nonsense folder. You can see more reactions in the gallery below.