Normani says the wait for Camila Cabello to acknowledge racist posts made her feel “second to the relationship that she had with her fans”
“I have spoken what is in my heart and pray this is transparent enough that I never have to speak on it again,” she says.
Former FADER cover stars SZA, Megan Thee Stallion, and Normani grace the front of this month's Rolling Stone. In the issue, Normani finally opens up about the racist memes and slurs directed toward her on Camila Cabello's Tumblr page during their days in Fifth Harmony, admitting that she's "struggled" talking about the issue before: "I didn’t want it to be a part of my narrative, but I am a black woman, who is a part of an entire generation that has a similar story. I face senseless attacks daily, as does the rest of my community."
She goes on to write that "it would be dishonest if I said that this particular scenario didn’t hurt me. It was devastating that this came from a place that was supposed to be a safe haven and a sisterhood, because I knew that if the tables were turned I would defend each of them in a single heartbeat. It took days for her to acknowledge what I was dealing with online and then years for her to take responsibility for the offensive tweets that recently resurfaced. Whether or not it was her intention, this made me feel like I was second to the relationship that she had with her fans."
Back in December, Cabello apologized for the language she used, saying that she was "uneducated and ignorant" at the time.
"I don’t want to say that this situation leaves me hopeless because I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity for personal growth," Normani tells Rolling Stone. "I really hope that an important lesson was learned in this. I hope there is genuine understanding about why this was absolutely unacceptable. I have spoken what is in my heart and pray this is transparent enough that I never have to speak on it again."
This headline of this post was updated at 5:47 p.m. EST on February 28 to clarify that Normani's quote about feeling "second" was directly related to the wait for Cabello's acknowledgement of her old posts, not the posts themselves.