Kenyans have taken to social media to express their anger at the recent verbal attack on award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o by former U.S. basketball player Gilbert Arenas.
In an Instagram rant about dark-skinned women, Arenas appears to suggest that Black women are not beautiful, adding that Nyong’o, a Kenyan Hollywood actress, is only cute “when the lights are off,” according to BET.
In an exchange, Arenas commented on an Instagram post that encouraged Black women to appreciate their dark skin tone.
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Problkthought wrote:
Your African features are all you need for attractiveness. Never tell yourself or let anyone tell you that in order to be attractive you must be mixed.
However, in Arenas’ response, he wrote:
How Black are we talking?? Not to be funny can you name a beautiful Black women on the outside…not brownskin… like tyrese black..top 50 most beautiful women off[sic] all time… the darkest women they have is (Keshia Knight Pullman a.k.a. Rudy) (gab) (union) (taral hicks) (Serena Williamns).
When u say African features Black then u have (#1 lupita n’yonga)[sic] and she’s cute when the lights are off second is (Ajuma nasenyana) sorry but ewww so the beautiful Black women u try to boost up is technically light skinned or brown skinned….”
Rejected Apology
Although the player’s offensive comments appear to have been deleted from his original post, the online community has not hesitated to let its rage out.
Since Arenas made the insulting comments five days ago, Kenyans — and Black people in general — have been trolling him on different social media platforms, with some suggesting that he is a victim of self-hate and mental slavery:
“I feel bad for your daughters growing with a father like you,” glam_you_girl commented on Instagram.
Arenas has since issued an apology accepting to bear any consequences for his remarks, but that only seems to have added fuel to the fire:
“Brother, instead of trashing you we will pray for you in hopes you can learn to self-love,” Taylor Ktk wrote on Facebook.
Some reports indicate that his Twitter account has been canceled following his appalling comments about dark-skinned women.
Nyong’o is yet to comment on the player’s rude remarks.
