Former child star, Raven-Symoné has made headlines yet again for comments that she made a few weeks ago regarding Michelle Obama. Univision host Rodner Figueroa made a comment stating that First Lady Michelle Obama “looks like she’s from the cast of Planet of the Apes .” Promptly after the remarks, Figueroa was fired.
Raven-Symoné came to the Figeroa’s defense. While guest hosting The View, Symoné stated that people were overly sensitive to the remark and what Figueroa said was not racist. The View co-host Rosie Perez took a different stance regarding the issue. She was livid about the remark, saying it was undeniably racist. Although Perez is a Hispanic-American, she still found the comment highly offensive.
Symoné questions whether Figueroa’s comment was racially motivated.
“But was he saying it racist-like?” Symoné said. “Michelle don’t fire me for this, but some people look like animals. Is that rude? I look like a bird, so can I be mad at somebody that calls me Toucan Sam?”
Not only did Perez not appreciate Symoné’s comments, many Internet users did not either. On an Atlanta radio, I heard one of the hosts state that she should be mindful of what she says since she is making an acting comeback; Symoné recently guest-starred on Fox’s new hit show Empire.
This is not the first time Symoné has been in the spotlight for her views on race. Back in October, she rubbed several people the wrong way after her interview with Oprah Winfrey. She sat down on Where Are They Now, and claimed that she is not African-American, but American. Winfrey warned that Twitter would be on fire after the show aired and sure enough she was right.
After the episode of The View aired, Symoné did yet another interview with E!. She told E! host, Alicia Quarles that what Figueroa said was very distasteful and that she did not support what he said. She then said that she personally thought the First Lady looked like a cat. Symoné continued to say that her comments have been taken out of context several times and that race is still a sensitive subject and an open wound.
