Ex Destiny’s Child member and gospel singer Michelle Williams has had to deal with insults and trolls on her social media handles since her namesake and actress Michelle Williams gave her acceptance speech at the recent Emmys.
The actress won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series, for her work on Verdon/Fosse. In her acceptance speech, she highlights how white privilege makes people like her enjoy working on sets just because of her colour, Vulture reports.
“I see this as an acknowledgement of what is possible when a woman is trusted to discern her own needs, feels safe enough to voice them, and respected enough that they’ll be heard,” she said.
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“When I asked for my dance classes, I heard ‘yes.’ When I asked for more voice lessons, I heard ‘yes.’ A different wig, a pair of teeth not made out of rubber, ‘yes.’
“All these things, they require effort and they cost more money, but my bosses never presumed to know better than I did about what I needed to do my job and to honor Gwen Verdon,” Said Williams.
She added: “Thank you, FX and to Fox 21 Studios, for supporting me completely and paying me equally.”
People were riled up over her speech because the first part was not a stand -alone. She then went on to add that her fellow women who are of colour do not get the same treatment as compared to people like her who do. She called out the movie producers to do better.
“Next time a woman, and especially a woman of color, because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterpart, tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her.
“Believe her, because one day she might stand in front of you and say, ‘thank you’ for allowing her to succeed because of her workplace environment, not in spite of it.”
Now Michelle Williams – the singer – says it’s okay to disagree with what actress Williams said, but make sure to know who the comments are being directed at because, she is black and though she supports the speech she does not appreciate the negative comments and tags directed at her.
“Let’s get one thing clear,” the singer began her “speech” on her Instagram Live. “How come when y’all are tagging and congratulating a person, do y’all see that I’m Black?
“Like, when you go to my profile and you search for the Michelle Williams, I am Black, okay? I ain’t mixed with nothing. I ain’t mixed with Persian, Russian. I am Black.”
“So I’m trying to figure out why in the world am I getting cursed out in my comments for Michelle Williams’ [Emmys] speech, which I thought was her truth!” she continued. “I thought it was awesome.”
“I thought she was factual. I could be wrong. But yo, I just told this woman a few minutes ago on my Instagram, I was like, ‘I’m so sorry that my namesake upsets you, but can’t you see that I’m Black?!'”
“So when you go and tag, look and see that little small hole, that little small profile, you see a Black girl, alright? Alright!” Williams added, as she continued to dish it out for her viewers.
“Reading is fundamental. So is observation!” she said, slapping her hand. “This hand is yo face. Reading is fundamental. Observation is so important. Observe that profile pic before you get to tagging me and cussing me out for something I didn’t say!”
Regardless of the unprovoked backlash, the singer says she stands beside the actress’ “beautiful” and “brilliant” speech.
“Honey, she played Gwen Verdon to a T. She was awesome!” she said. “Now, get it right! And stop cussing me out, alright? Now, I’mma slap you back into having a good day ’cause you almost tried to take me out of my peace.”
