Grammy Award-winning, South African-born singer, Tyla finds herself at the crossroads of a bubbling race controversy -- it all came to a head on "The Breakfast Club," but she opted to plead the 5th.
This is Tyla and this video is from 3 years ago if not 4 and I am pretty sure many of you didn’t even know who Tyla was back then. The poor girl mentioned here she was also mixed with black. Hands off Tyla please let her be #coloured #BLACK #Tyla #trending pic.twitter.com/M4hyvKTe6M
— Nompumelelo (@lihlelelogmail1) June 13, 2024
All the chatter about her race and ethnicity started when fans discovered a TikTok Tyla made years ago -- before her "Water" song became an internationally known, double platinum smash -- where she celebrated her mixed heritage, and labeled herself a "proud coloured South African woman."
Charlemagne Tha God gave Tyla the floor to clarify the remark -- but she bottled up and her publicist requested the question be struck from the record.
Tyla's silence did her no favors ... Black American fans felt she lacked understanding of why the term "coloured" is no longer part of the culture in this country.
With the controversy mounting, Tyla released a statement ... clarifying she never denied her Blackness, she simply chose to embrace her diversity.
According to the 22-year-old, Irish, Indian and other blood runs through her veins -- in addition to being Zulu. She says in her homeland they call that "coloured," but she knows in this country, that makes her Black, and she's got no problem with that
Tyla's scheduled to appear at this year's Rolling Loud Thailand and the BET Awards ... not the CET Awards, for the record.