Right as the ball dropped and the clock changed from 11:59 to 12:00, the mess that was 2020 began. It started with a tweet by user who goes by the name of King Kwasii. He wrote, “Ari Lennox and Teyana Taylor’s ability to have dangerously high sex appeal while simultaneously looking like rottweilers will always amaze me.”
Ari Lennox and Teyana Taylor’s ability to have dangerously high sex appeal while simultaneously looking like rottweilers will always amaze me
— King Kwasii (@WinEverUwantIT) January 1, 2020
Immediately following the tweet, users came to the defense of the two R&B stars.
First day of the new decade & we’re already hating on dark skin black women, do better pic.twitter.com/MsaAI8Ud2D
— 𝒟𝒶𝓃𝒾𝒶 ✨ (@2000sblckbarbie) January 1, 2020
you tweeting reckless from an android? pic.twitter.com/0s2LyJgvYk
— 𝕓𝕚𝕘 𝕓𝕠𝕕𝕪 𝕓𝕖𝕟𝕫. (@uppercaseBITCH) January 1, 2020
After this became public, Ari Lennox tearfully went on to Instagram Live and speak on her feelings.
This honestly hurt to watch. Some of you black men have to do better or just shut up. pic.twitter.com/ihyCxq3d4Q
— Crash Bandicoot (@CEO_DJones) January 2, 2020
Lennox has always been vocal about loving her skin and loving her features. When she spoke to Buzzfeed back in August, she said, “Rocking my natural nose, hair and skin, that makes me feel so empowered, because there’s so many people out there that would rather me not do that,” she explained. “I refuse to change for them. Knowing that I can encourage someone else to rock their natural self really empowers me as well.”
We hope that this doesn’t get Lennox too down and that she can move on from this quickly. This anti-black rhetoric is hurtful, especially comes from within the community.
Moises is a full-time freelance writer based in New York City. He graduated from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He reports mainly on arts and culture.