Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images
Janelle Monáe has been an open book this week as she revealed to Rolling Stone she identifies as pansexual:
“Being a queer black woman in America, someone who has been in relationships with both men and women – I consider myself to be a free-a** motherf*****.”
Monáe also revealed that up until now she had always avoided answering questions about her sexuality in fear of how it would affect her career and even how her family would react to the news. She’s worried her loved ones will bring up her recent confession when she visits them: “There are people in my life that love me and they have questions, and I guess when I get there, I’ll have to answer those questions.”
Earlier this week the 32-year-old made an appearance on the Breakfast Club and addressed her problem with white people using the n-word when it plays in songs. When UNCENSORED‘s Charlamagne tha God brought up the point that the word is so commonly used in black music, that white people could use it as well, the artist disagreed:
“Black people we took n*gga and we said, ‘We’re going to redefine what that means. We’re going to take the power out of it and we’ll use it in the way that we want to use it. We own that now,” said the singer. “Their ancestors used it for centuries, it’s ours now. That’s the least you can do is let us have that word back. I don’t feel like those who are more privileged can used words that were used to oppress those who are still oppressed in this world.”
It is uncommon that artists speak about this. At concerts for example, no one seems to censor themselves during that moment where the n-word is used in a song. Check out what she had to say about it at the 15:00 mark:
The actress made bold moves this week discussing both her sexuality and calling out racism. These are concepts often overlooked and should be more openly discussed in the music world. What do you think?
TELL US: What do you think about her coming out? Do you agree with her that white people should censor themselves when the n-word plays in songs?
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