American pop star Demi Lovato received a negative backlash on Twitter, after she posted her recent DNA results that show she is part African.
In her post on Saturday, the 24-year-old musician revealed her roots:
I did a DNA test and found out I’m mainly Spanish, with Native American, SCANDINAVIAN (which I had NO idea), Irish, BRITISH….
— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) February 25, 2017
However, the part that seems to have rubbed some of her fans the wrong way is when she celebrated her African ancestry:
And I’m 1% African!!!!
— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) February 25, 2017
Keep It to Yourself
Although Lovato’s post about her DNA results appeared genuine and well-intentioned, a segment of her fans were apparently offended and took to Twitter to express their displeasure:
@ddlovato so if you’re from africa…. why are you white
— soph (@greylovxto) February 25, 2017
@Flawless_Demi_ @ddlovato everybody is at least 1% African but you don’t see everyone running around with tattoos of Africa
— jada 🙂 (@_JadaScott) February 25, 2017
But not everyone was offended by Lovato’s post:
If you think Demi Lovato saying she’s 1% African is her claiming ownership I’m gonna need you to drink some juice, take a nap and reevaluate
— andrea* (@mama_afriqua) February 25, 2017
If you’re that offended by Demi Lovato tweeting that she’s 1% African, You’re the problem.
— Demi Lovato News (@deminewshd) February 25, 2017
Origins of the Human Race
As the debate around Lovato’s DNA results rages on, scholars and archaeologists around the world are entangled in an emotive discourse about where the modern human race originated from.
Some argue that Homo sapiens evolved independently in different parts of the world, while others strongly believe that human beings first evolved in one location in sub-Saharan Africa and spread to other parts of the world.
In 2000, a team of researchers led by Ulf Gyllensten of the University of Uppsala in Sweden carried out scientific research, where they discovered that modern human beings are all descendants of a single ancestral group that lived in sub-Saharan Africa about 170,000 years ago.
In the report, which was published by Nature, the scientists suggested that modern humans spread across the globe from Africa in a mass exodus that happened about 50,000 years ago.
“The deepest, statistically supported branch [family tree DNA] provides compelling evidence of a human mtDNA origin in Africa,” part of the report read.
Other scientists who have studied the skulls and DNA of human remains from around the globe claim that their results show a possibility of modern humans (Homo sapiens) having a single origin in Africa.
