10 Black Celebrities Who Have Said Questionable Things About Racism

In 2013, Zoe Saldana ruffled feathers when she claimed there’s “no such thing as people of color.” Now, the actress is stirring up more controversy with recent statements that appearing in sci-fi films has made her colorblind. Talking about the characters she’s played, Saldana said, ” it’s been brought to my attention continuously since I was born that I’m not a conventional person because of the color of my skin or my gender or my cultural background. So I think science fiction has given me the ability as an artist to be colorblind, and gender-blind, and to imagine and reinvent myself and be the chameleon actors are supposed to be.” Hmmmm.

There’s no shortage of questionable quotes from Stacey Dash, who has made a second career as a FOX News commentator, but earlier this year, the “Clueless” star said she believes Black History Month should’t exist. Yes. That happened.

Lil Wayne recently said he has never experienced racism and doesn’t believe it exists.

Raven-Symone has criticized “black sounding” names, called herself “colorless,” and defended a television host who said Michelle Obama looked like an ape.

In a 2014 interview with Oprah, the producer and creative entrepreneur said, “the New Black dreams and realizes that it’s not pigmentation: it’s a mentality, and it’s either going to work for you or it’s going to work against you. And you’ve got to pick the side you’re going to be on.” He later tried to clarify his statement by saying he wasn’t speaking for the culture, just himself.

Kanye West has called racism “a dated concept” and “silly.” “It’s something that was used to hold people back in the past,” he once said. However, ‘Ye plays the race card whenever it benefits him. For instance, when people trash his fashion line.

Earlier this year, Whoopi Goldberg — commenting on the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominee lineup — said the Academy Awards can’t be that racist because she once won a prized trophy.

A$AP Ferg stated in an NPR interview that racism no longer exists. He later clarified his statements, saying “just to be clear, I am fully aware racism still exists.”

In a “Daily Show” interview in 2015, Common suggested that Black people showing love to white people was the cure to racism. “If we’ve been bullied, we’ve been beat down and we don’t want it anymore. We are not extending a fist and we are not saying, ‘You did us wrong.’ It’s more like, ‘Hey, I’m extending my hand in love,’” he said to host Jon Stewart. “Let’s forget about the past as much as we can and let’s move from where we are now. How can we help each other? Can you try to help us because we are going to try to help ourselves, too.”

Morgan Freeman thinks people should just stop talking about race and told Don Lemon that he didn’t believe racism existed because he and Lemon had succeeded. “Why would race have anything to do with it? Put your mind to what you want to do and go for that. It’s kind of like religion to me—it’s a good excuse for not getting there.”