“I understand my history”: Raven-Symoné clarifies 2014 statement about not being an African American

Raven-Symoné, the American actress and singer, has recently provided further explanation for a controversial statement she made during a 2014 interview with Oprah Winfrey regarding her identity as an “African American.”

This past Tuesday, the 38-year-old uploaded a recent installment of her podcast, Tea Time With Raven and Miranda, to her YouTube channel. The episode featured a segment from a 2014 interview with Oprah, where she asked, “So, do you prefer not to be identified as gay?”Raven shook her head and responded, at that time,

“I don’t want to be labeled gay. I want to be labeled a human who loves humans. I’m tired of being labeled — I’m an American, I’m not an African American. I’m an American.”

Despite Oprah’s apparent concern, she gave a seemingly warning to the girl, saying “Oh girl, don’t start a fire on Twitter.”

Despite facing backlash at the time, the actress clarified during the podcast that her comment was about the label “African American”and not her “blackness.”Raven also revealed that she received a lot of criticism for her statement, but she wanted to clarify any misunderstandings.

“I understand my history. I understand where my ancestors come from. I also understand how much blood, sweat, and tears they’ve soaked into this earth in order to create the America that I live in today: free, happy, tax-paying American citizen.”

The actress from That’s So Raven proceeded to explain to her audience that she had a deep understanding of her heritage and the origins of her ancestors. However, she clarified that her statements had been misconstrued.

Raven-Symoné clarifies statement on her racial identity

In 2013, Raven-Symoné made her LGBTQ identity public. Since June 2020, she has been wed to Miranda Maday and together they run a YouTube channel and co-host a podcast called Tea Time With Raven and Miranda.

On March 2, 2024, Raven-Symoné spoke out about the backlash she faced for her remarks about her race during a 2014 interview with Oprah Winfrey titled “We need to talk…”The actress explained that she was revisiting the issue because it resurfaced on the internet once again.

The sequence began on Real Time With Bill Maher when the host featured a clip of Idris Elba expressing that individuals are “fixated on race.”Following this, Maher shared a segment of Raven-Symoné stating that she does not identify as African American. The actress from The Cosby Show stated,

“I wanna talk about something that has haunted me since 2014. He is commenting on something I said to Oprah back in 2014.”

The podcast then proceeded to share a video featuring Raven-Symoné discussing being labeled as gay in an interview with Oprah. During the interview, the actress expressed her frustration with labels, including “African American.”In the recent podcast episode, she revealed that after the interview aired, she felt like her name was thrown in the garbage as the internet exploded with reactions. Raven further stated,

“There was so much backlash from my community and others who misunderstood slash didn’t hear the exact words that I said. And the exact words that I said is ‘I’m an American, not an African American.’ A lot of people thought I said that I wasn’t Black. And I never said that.”

After Miranda Maday repeatedly asked the actress to clarify her statement, Raven-Symoné finally responded,

“When I say that African American does not align with me — that label – It doesn’t mean that I’m negating my Blackness or I’m not Black. It means I am from this country. I was born here. My mom, my dad, my great-great-great-great-great — that’s what I’m saying. The pure logistics of it.”

Raven-Symoné will soon be featured in a new coming-of-age comedy called Quarter, alongside Ali Wentworth, Brooke Shields, Arnon Manor, and others. The specific release date has yet to be announced.