Leigh-Anne Pinnock Slams Jesy Nelson & Nicki Minaj Drama During Birthday Speech
By MLC on October 18, 2021 at 6:10 PM EDT
Leigh-Anne Pinnock is thirty, flirty & TAKING DOWN anyone who questions her character.
She’s looking at you Jesy Nelson and Nicki Minaj.
The Little Mix singer turned the big 3-0 on October 4, and had a celebration this past weekend.
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The first-time mother gave a speech during her big shebang and made it a point to address the drama going on between her, Nicki and her former bandmate, Jesy.
In a video obtained by The Mirror, Leigh-Anne can be heard telling the crowd, “Bear with me as I’m a bit drunk. Firstly, I want to thank you guys for joining me tonight. Thank you. I’m 30 years old. I know my character, you know my character, anyone that meets me knows my f***ing character – and that’s all I care about.”
She continued on saying, “I have found my voice now and I will continue to use it. Tonight we celebrate life, best friends and amazing family. I love you all."
Now, if you’re not all caught up on the DRAMA between LA, Jesy and Nicki… let The Blast educate you.
So it all started after Jesy released her first-ever solo single, “Boyz.” In the video, which features Nicki, the British singer’s skin is a bit darker than normal.
Leigh-Anne along with many others accused Jesy of ‘blackfishing,’ which is a form of cultural appropriation in which a non-black person intentionally tries to appear darker by use of spray tans, makeup and hairstyles.
The ex-bandmate eventually took to social media to apologize.
Jesy told fans in an IG Live with Nicki, “I personally want to say that my intention was never, ever to offend people of color with this video and my song because like I said, growing up as a young girl, this is the music that I listened to. These are the videos that I watched and thought were the best.”
She insisted that the darker skin tone and hairstyles she sported in the video had nothing to do with her trying to integrate herself into the black culture, it’s just what she knows.
Jesy Nelson says Leigh-Anne Pinnock made her aware of Blackfishing allegations during the music video shoot for “Sweet Melody”:
“It’s just hard for me because I was in a group with two women of color for 9 years and it was never brought up to me up until the last music video…” pic.twitter.com/jBfIOJmIGR
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 11, 2021
Upon releasing “Boyz,” all of her ex-bandmates unfollowed her on social media.
Jesy said Leigh-Anne addressed blackfishing claims with her previously, and this set Nicki off.
The rapper went on to say Leigh-Anne supported a different friend, Gabrielle Urquhart, who was blackfishing after she wrote “werrrrrkkkk” on a social media post.
Nicki questions Leigh-Anne about her white friend who has dark tan:
“You all for your friend who's ‘Blackfishing’ right? Why everybody can't ‘Blackfish’ then if it's cool for your friend? Stop using this fake selective outrage when you have personal vendettas against people” pic.twitter.com/d2oWNWQIH6
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 12, 2021
“One more thing. In my stories I just posted, your friend and you on her pictures talking about ‘werk?’ The b**** look blacker than the blackest black man in America,” Nicki quipped. “I don’t know what shades they come in in the UK, but you all for your friend who’s blackfishing, right? So can’t everybody blackfish then if it’s cool for your friend? Stop using this fake selective outrage when you have personal vendettas against people.”