Ebro Darden is addressing insensitive comments he made during a 2013 interview with Tinashe.
On Thursday (Nov. 25), Twitter user @thekonyjen posted a clip from the conversation, which sees Ebro as he attempts to find out Tinashe’s surname. Peter Rosenberg questioned the inquiry as the singer “doesn’t go by her last name,” but Ebro continued to inquire, prompting Tinashe to respond with the answer: Kachingwe.
“Can we point out how light-skinned she is with a ghetto-ass name?” the Apple Music executive responded, to which Rosenberg defends Tinashe.
“It’s not a ghetto name, it’s an African name,” he said. “Sometimes these ghetto names are actually African.”
While @thekonyjen insisted that she “would’ve become real disrespectful” if she were in the hot seat, other Twitter users shared their own reactions to the clip.
“Ebro is damn colorist, anti-Black and xenophobic for making fun of her name. I would have walked out of this interview after he said this,” wrote @MJFINESSELOVER. “Rosenberg is the only one that made sense.”
“lmao imagine a nigga named Ebro trynna clown my shit without me setting the entire building on F I R E,” added @PrinceyPls.
Others, including user @chammy_255, were confused by the fact that Rosenberg, a white man, was the one standing up for Tinashe.
“The fact that Rosenberg, a white man, is correcting Ebro, a black man, about African names is doing my head in,” he said. “The fact that Rosenberg, who is white, defended her while Ebro’s BLACK ass kept on with his ignorance and disrespect is just…,” @theeaquaria wrote, expressing similar sentiments.
After hours of backlash surrounding his now-viral comment, Ebro eventually chimed in the conversation in an attempt to right his wrongs.
“Yea this was a terrible joke, we were using the name skit for people to learn her origins…,” he explained. “Love Tinashe. That’s my homey still.”
Look below to see Ebro Darden’s tweet and the reactions to the interview clip.