“Being black on TV means not raising your voice, not being too defensive, because you don’t want to create the narrative of being an angry black woman or being a bully.”
Yewande Biala has released a statement discussing the racism she dealt with on Love Island.
This comes after Lucie Donlan, another former contestant on the show, accused her of bullying.
Yewande, who is a trained scientist from Meath, responded by saying that during her time on the show, Lucie refused to call her by her real name as it was “too hard to pronounce”.
Since then, she has released a lengthy statement discussing her issues with racism both in the past and on the show, specifically referencing the issues people have had with her name.
She said: “I think one of my earliest memories of racialised re-naming was when I was exploring different secondary schools. One of the schools I was interested in, asked me for my full name, which is Yewande Elizabeth Biala.
“After having difficulties pronouncing my name, she went forward and asked if ‘we could just put it down as Elizabeth Biala, as it would be easier for everyone’.
“In that moment, all I heard was that I didn’t matter, and I was an inconvenience. From that day I made it my mission to make sure people knew my name was important, after all that is my identity.
She then discussed an encounter she had with Donlan on the show.
“I corrected her multiple times, I didn’t mind, because you are going to get it right. There was a moment just before a challenge. This was after 3 weeks in. She mispronounced my name, I correct her again and her reply was ‘yeah whatever you know what I mean’ I remember one of the producers put her arms around me.
“Being black on TV means not raising your voice, not being too defensive, because you don’t want to create the narrative of being an angry black woman or being a bully. I am not a bully, it’s such a huge accusation and one that should be handled very seriously.
“And lastly, I encourage everyone to be aware of racialised re-naming and name-based teasing. I think we should all be working towards being better advocates and creating a different dynamic around these narratives.”
This is the last thing I’m going to say about this situation….. pic.twitter.com/oIwvSaCG04
— Yewande (@yewande_biala) January 23, 2021
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