Fans aren’t the only ones unhappy with Raven-Symone’s comments about “ghetto names.”
“The View” co-host’s father also didn’t dig her comments Thursday on the daytime talk show, on which she said she would discriminate against job applicants with a “ghetto name.”
In a Facebook post, Christopher B. Pearman responded to what he said was one woman’s comment that she would not buy his book about raising a child star because of what his daughter said.
Noting that he hasn’t managed his daughter in over a decade, Pearman said, “Children grow up and become influenced by many things, situations and people.”
“I certainly don’t agree with what she said….but she is damn near thirty years old,” the posting says. “She’s a grown a** woman making grown a** mistakes. We all have been guilty of this.”
During a discussion on “The View,” the former child star said, “I’m not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea. It’s just not going to happen.”
The backlash was swift and severe, with Ebony.com contributing editor Damon Young writing that “Only a person who associates ‘blackness’ with ‘badness’ would choose to disparage black names and choose to throw a stereotypical reference in there, too.”
The actress attempted to apologize via her official Facebook account: “My comments about discrimination have spun out of control.
“As an equal opportunity employer, I have never discriminated against a name….even though I said I would, it’s not true,” she wrote. “My comment was in poor taste. My lack of empathy towards name discrimination was uncalled for.”
Her father wrote that his daughter is a really “beautiful, sweethearted, human being.”
“Her Mother and I Love her Very much and will always support her and have her back,” his posting said. “Even if sometimes……….she says some dumb S#%T!”
