SAM SMITH HAS has defended himself after being accused of ‘ignorance’ for tweeting his shock at a friend being ‘racially abused’ in London.
In a series of tweets, Smith recounted an incident of a friend being “verbally abused racially” in London, saying he was “speechless” and felt like he had to “shine some sort of light on it”.
Twitter users began explaining to Smith that this is how people of colour feel every day, and unfortunately, racist incidents are not at all surprising in London.
Many asked if he was living in a “bubble” to not realise that racism is very much a ‘thing’ in 2016:
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While some just encouraged Smith to “watch the news”, others accused him of playing the victim when the incident didn’t actually happen to him:
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Last night, the singer posted a statement on Instagram clarifying his tweets, saying what happened was “not about me in any way” and that he was “merely sharing an experience”.
I don’t profess to know or remotely understand what it means to be on the receiving end of racist abuse, but having been bullied my whole life for being gay, what I do know is that it is wrong and completely unacceptable.
“Here’s to people being allowed to be people.”
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