Celebrities can be held to account, but is a public onslaught really needed?
Zeze Millz entered the Celebrity Big Brother house just four days ago, yet is already facing backlash for simply being herself – something we see far too often on reality TV shows.
The TV presenter and social media personality is known for her strong opinions and unfiltered attitude online, something she was open about while in the Big Brother house, which was met with praise by her fellow housemates. All of a sudden, this has rubbed up people the wrong way.
During last night’s episode, the housemates all had to give their nominations, and Zeze received five. While all is fair in this game, the reasoning being that she is “very opinionated” is unfair.
In the prior episode, Zeze opened up to Sharon Osbourne about the public perception of her, noting that a lot of it is wrong.
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Speaking about an incident that went viral, Zeze told the former X Factor judge that it “sparked a passion” in her to talk about certain issues like colourism and “how difficult it is sometimes for darker skinned women in this industry”, but noted that because of her “delivery”, “it would rub people up the wrong way”.
She continued: “I think for me it’s more about people seeing a different side to me. People think I’m this hard-headed person, over opinionated, always got something to say, quite harsh, and there’s actually quite a cool side to me. There are so many stereotypes with being a Black woman, just because you have an opinion.
“For me it’s like, ‘Yeah I have an opinion but I’m not always walking around [being negative]’. That’s what people think.”
This is something we’re seeing happen far too often to Black women on television. Only four months ago, the nation watched on as hundreds of people piled onto Nella Rose for quite literally a misunderstanding, which led to her getting waves of abuse from trolls and well-known companies.
During her appearance in the jungle, the YouTube star had a disagreement with Fred Sirieix following a comment he made about her father.
“You hurt my feelings. I was very upset,” Nella said. “You keep trying to speak to me when I don’t want to speak to you. I would rather stay away from you. I don’t want to eat your food, I don’t want to talk to you. We can just live, you live on that side, I live on this side.”
Fred did apologise and, after some time, things were back to normal in the jungle, but that didn’t stop people from sending a barrage of abuse her way.
The Noire Space made a well informed point following this uproar, noting that “Black women are not afforded grace on national TV”, and yet again, these words could not ring truer.
It’s important to note that everyone must be held accountable for their actions, but that is where the criticism must stop.
“Appearing on TV puts people under scrutiny,” The Noire Space wrote on an Instagram carousel. “However, Black women are disproportionately scrutinised for what we look like, how our hair is done, how we speak and what we do.
“We are not above scrutiny when in the wrong but often it is overkill and emotionally damaging.”
This is an issue that needs to be addressed full on. If someone is deemed to be “opinionated” – that’s fine, but the character assassination that follows from the public isn’t acceptable.
Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.
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