Rita Ora has been accused of “blackfishing” and “cultural appropriation” after fans discovered her Albanian heritage.
The Hot Right Now hitmaker, 25, has always been very open about her heritage but she is now facing backlash after a tweet about her ethnicity went viral on Twitter.
Shocking some fans, the tweet, with over 150,000 likes, read: “Finding out Rita Ora isn’t black at all and both of her parents are white Albanians is so trippy.
“The girl’s BEEN blackfishing.”
The social media user later added: “Like the girl isn’t black in the slightest this is kinda freaking me out. White women really slip into black personas so easily.”
Rita Ora has been accused of ‘blackfishing’ (Image: Internet Unknown)
The tweet sat alongside a series of photos of Rita wearing what appeared to be wigs and two snaps of her hair in braids.
Users rushed to the comment section under the tweet to share their views.
One wrote: “Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally bamboozled by a black fishing white woman.”
“Hold up. I thought she was AT LEAST 1/4 black,” said another.
Rita has always been very open about her Albanian heritage (Image: ritaora/Instagram)
A third tweeted: “All this cultural appropriation ain’t cool @ritaora”.
Others accused the star of “cultural appropriation” and “blackfishing”.
The terms are used to describe people who change their hair and make-up to appear black online.
However, there were some Rita fans who rushed to her defence to point out that the star has spoken of her Albanian heritage on a number of occasions.
Fans rushed to remind the Twitter user that Rita is a refugee (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Fans pointed out the fact Rita has previously revealed her Albanian roots when she told how her family fled war zone Kosovo when she was only a child.
Rita revealed her family seeked refuge in the UK.
They also pointed out that the snaps being shared were from five years ago – and noted how Rita no longer styles her hair in that way.
A fan shared throwback photos of Rita from her youth, explaining: “This is what she looked like when she was young.
“She’s always been an ethnic Albanian girl with a tan and never changed her features or anything. She’s always been a loud and proud Albanian.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
