It’s been a tough weekend for Fifth Harmony singer Normani Kordei, who had to deal with not only rumors about her band’s breakup but also a slew of racist attacks on social media targeted at her which she describes as “horrific.”
Kordei shared an emotional statement on Twitter, letting fans know that she was taking a break from Twitter to escape the bullying. “Over the past four years of being in the public eye I’ve learned to grow a thick skin to critics and those who may not like me,” she wrote. “I’ve never been one to deny anyone of their opinions, but over the course of this last week and especially over the last 48 hours I’ve not just been cyber bullied, I’ve been racially cyber bullied with tweets and pictures so horrific and racially charged that I can’t subject myself any longer to the hate.”
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To my fans: pic.twitter.com/7yICp10G5Z
— Normani (@Normani) August 7, 2016
She pointed out that her experience with bullying is more common than it should be: “I’m not the first black female celebrity to deal with this and I’m sure I won’t be the last,” she said. “Hiding behind a computer and putting people down, especially for the color of their skin doesn’t make you cool, it makes you a coward!”
Kordei is right to note that black female celebrities must endure more than their fair share of bullying online. Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones dealt with racist trolls in July by posting screen grabs of their posts and calling them out. More than one internet commenter made gross, racist comparisons between Jones and a gorilla. She reposted some of these images, tweeting, “Exposing I hope y’all go after them like they going after me.”
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Exposing I hope y'all go after them like they going after me pic.twitter.com/ojK5FdIA0H
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
But when the racist tweets didn’t stop coming, Jones sadly tweeted, “I feel like I’m in a personal hell,” and questioned why Twitter wasn’t drawing the line between free speech and hate speech.
I feel like I'm in a personal hell. I didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just too much. It shouldn't be like this. So hurt right now.
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
Kordei didn’t address her tormenters one-on-one, but it seems like Twitter dealt with her racist trolls promptly, as she thanked Twitter for quickly responding to the situation.
Rather than deal with the situation with anger, Kordei chose to share a message of love: “I want to take this moment to say Love goes much further than hate in this world.”
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